


Rough Edges

by Batsutousai



Series: Shattered Glass [3]
Category: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe
Genre: Angst, Implied Character Death, Kidnapping, M/M, Off-screen torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-03
Updated: 2012-10-13
Packaged: 2017-11-13 11:17:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 58,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/502949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Batsutousai/pseuds/Batsutousai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to <span class="u">Like So Much Shattered Glass</span>. Loki has found a place amongst the Avengers as a member of their team, but he's made a great many enemies in the process and life is never easy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Marvel. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a reminder, this is a sequel to my fic, Like So Much Shattered Glass, wherein Loki plots to kill all the Avengers and ends up joining them instead. You should be able to follow along knowing just that, but I very much suggest reading Shattered Glass before this one.  
> This chapter picks up the day after the last chapter of Shattered Glass.
> 
> Because this story focuses more on Loki and Tony's growing relationship, there's gonna be more about their kids. For Loki that's going to involve a bastardised pairing of the comics and the mythos, and for Tony that's his robots (which I blame almost entirely on scifigrl47, who has this awesome Steve/Tony series about Tony's bots. And so some of their personalities might be slightly borrowed from her).  
> I can't say how much of Loki's kids we'll be seeing, but Dummy has a habit of popping in, and JARVIS is _everywhere_. (And You and Butterfingers might get a scene or two, but they're both in Malibu – Tony only had Dummy shipped cross-country – so don't hold your breath.)  
>  I mostly bring all this up because it features fairly heavily in the beginning/middle of this chapter.

Loki had no idea who'd made the decision, because Coulson had announced it after an hour-long meeting with Fury, but he suspected it to have been the director; he was pretty sure, out of the two of them, Coulson was less inclined to make trouble for Loki and the Avengers. (Although, Coulson was not an easy man to read, beyond the 'I will kill you with this eating utensil' glares he shot at Stark and Barton when they started acting more childish than necessary at meals.)

Still, he didn't think Coulson was _quite_ the sort inclined to decide, "Loki will have to remain a woman on the field while an acting Avenger."

Everyone was still for a moment, then Stark said, "I have _zero_ problem with this."

"You wouldn't," Barton muttered.

"Is there a particular reason?" Rogers enquired. "I mean, I understand why we were doing so previously, but if Loki is acting as a member of the team, he should be free to do so in his own, natural skin."

" _That_ would go over well," Stark muttered, but he smiled at Loki to show he meant no harm.

"And what is _that_ supposed to mean?" Rogers demanded. Loki wasn't sure he'd ever become used to Captain America defending him. Having officially joined the team, he supposed the man's immediate leap to his defence was a natural next step, but it still seemed odd and occasionally left him with the urge to throttle the human. (Loki was hardly a blushing maid in need of a knight.)

Stark's eyes flickered for a moment, almost seeming trapped, but then he was all easy smiles and relaxing into a slouch. "It _means_ , Cap, that just because someone's decided to bat for the home team doesn't mean people are going to suddenly start cheering for them at the ball games or wait in line for autographs. People don't know Loki's switched sides, that he's willing to go head-to-head over an innocent intending to save said innocent. They know him as the guy who called down an army on Manhattan, who waged a war that claimed nearly as many lives as 9-11, and caused significantly more damage, and they're not so likely to forgive him that.

"On the flip side, there's this chick claiming the same name who's in good with the Avengers and who stood next to us against bullets yesterday without flinching. You told those kids she'd helped us in D.C., and they'll have seen her magic, will have connected it to the green shield that kept them safe. They're almost certainly singing her praises already. We turn around and say, 'By the way, the hot chick was really Thor's baby brother, who tried to destroy the world', people aren't going to take it so well."

"Not everyone believes in second chances," Banner murmured, tone heavy with bitter experience.

Rogers deflated. "It just doesn't seem fair," he said quietly.

"Life isn't fair," Romanoff remarked and bitter smiles touched the lips of the humans.

"Okay, so if Loki Friggadottir is going to be our ally and we're trying to keep her separate from Loki Odinson, we should probably fix her up a life and separate her in SHIELD's files," Stark commented, straightening in his seat. "Childhood in England, family and friends who are willing to claim to know her, birth certificate and passport, maybe some sort of school certificate, the works."

"And a code name for the comms," Barton agreed, looking more than a little excited about the chance to bequeath a name unto Loki.

"You don't get a vote, or to make any suggestions," Romanoff cut in before Barton could get any further.

"SHIELD can sort out Loki's background," Coulson said, electing to ignore the two assassins sitting on the couch with him. He looked at the dark-haired god and said, "If you have anything specific you want, tell us now."

Loki shrugged. "I told the children my mother's favourite Norse deity was myself, but otherwise there were no falsities spoken yesterday to which I held any attachment."

"Good." Coulson nodded. "What job were you spreading around?"

"Uh... Secretary, nurse, store assistant, actress, show girl..." Stark listed.

"Scientist, amateur magician, and computer analyst," Loki finished amongst the laughter of most of the humans and Thor.

"Jack of all trades, then," Coulson commented drily, humour in his eyes. "Stark, I leave it to you to get Loki outfitted with a cell phone and, once we've got everything sorted in our systems, a Facebook profile."

"Yeah, I can do that," Stark agreed as he pushed against the arms of his chair to get up. "Anything else? Or can I steal Loki to customise his phone?"

"Think about code names," Rogers suggested.

"Green Ice," Stark said without pausing. "Emerald Ice, maybe."

"I understand the green reference," Rogers said, "and I know Loki caught that one guy with ice, but–"

"I am Jötun," Loki said drily as he stood. "You call my species Frost Giants."

"Emerald Frost," Jane said lightly, smiling. "It has a nice ring to it."

"We can work that name," Coulson announced, looking down at his tablet and bringing up the email application. "Go. Get Loki a phone. Teach him how to use it."

"Do you need help?" Banner asked, looking a little worried.

"I am capable enough with your technology," Loki said with a shrug. "If Stark proves incomprehensible, I will return for your assistance."

"I am _never_ incomprehensible!" Stark declared with a wide grin.

"Pull the other one, it's got bells on it," Barton said and Stark raised his middle finger at the archer before leading the way to the lift.

They got off at Stark's floor, and he explained, "I don't keep the components for custom Stark Phones in the main lab because, well. I trust Bruce and Jane, but they're not the only people who have access to that floor, and I've had a design leaked to one of my opponents before. SHIELD flunky, he got his ass fired so fast. But still. So, yeah, I keep everything down in this lab, since only Pep and I have regular access."

"And whichever – what was it Barton called them? Bimbo? – you bring home that night," Loki replied drily.

Stark grinned. "That's why the door locks," he said as they stopped next to a surprisingly organised table. There came a whir from a far side of the lab and Loki noticed Dummy moving towards the coffee machine. "Okay," Stark interrupted, a holographic screen appearing over the table. "Let's talk phones. They always come with the ability to call people – basic function – and, these days, you tend to get looked at oddly if you can't send and receive texts, so you're getting the messaging client. Uhm, there's a SHIELD specific app that's supposed to help them track your phone, make sure they know where you are. Steve is always forgetting his phone, though, so it never works for him and I disabled it 'cause he kept accidentally hitting the 'Send Backup' button. Which, funny as fuck, but it got old pretty damn fast.

"I'll disable the SHIELD stuff if it's a bother, but I'm not knocking heads with Fury over a phone app. So. Other things." He motioned to the screen with one hand, the other collecting tiny pieces of technology from the drawers that held them. Dummy rolled over and set a mug next to Stark's elbow, chirping inquisitively. "Thanks, buddy. Want something, Loki?"

Loki glanced down at the bot. "Hot chocolate would not be unappreciated," he decided and Dummy let out an excited chirp before zooming away.

"He'll be bringing you that any time you're in here, now," Stark warned him, but there was a sort of fond warmth in his voice. He shook himself and took a sip of his coffee before setting it back down and asking, "Do you want a camera? Take pictures of us making fools of ourselves or the sunset or whatever."

Loki shrugged. "It may prove humorous."

"Uh-huh." Stark pulled out some other pieces, then asked, "How about a slide-out keyboard? I think they're a bit bulky, but I can't say how the touch screen will react to you, since it tends to react more to heat than to pressure. And you're, well..."

"Naturally colder than a human or Æsir," Loki suggested drily.

"I would have put it a bit more...well, not _diplomatically_ , per say, but...yeah."

Loki sighed and glanced down at his fingers, curling and uncurling them a couple times. "A second keyboard which doesn't rely on body temperature would not be remiss."

"Consider it done. I'll see if I can't lower the temperature the sensors register, too," Stark decided as he pulled yet more small objects out of their storage spaces. "Dunno what sorts of information gathering you might wanna do," he continued. "I can hook it up to just surf the web, or I can hook you directly into JARVIS. Which, JARVIS is awesome, but sometimes it's faster to search for these things on your own."

Loki couldn't help but remember the grocery shopping trip, where Stark's connection to JARVIS had been an enormous help. "Recalling my poor familiarity with your realm, I would be best served, I believe, by a connection to JARVIS. Thank you, Dummy," he added as the bot held out a mug to him with a chirp.

"Sure, that makes sense. No, Dummy," Stark added as the bot reached out to grab a slightly curved piece of plastic. "You're not helping. _Dummy_ ," he said a little more sharply when the bot didn't put the plastic back immediately. He grabbed for the plastic and tugged on it, but Dummy refused to let go, letting out a series of clicks and whirs that seemed to be his version of communication.

Loki set down his mug and carefully pried the plastic from the bot's claw, taking care to keep from damaging either robot or plastic. "Dummy," he said in the same voice he'd used on Sleipnir when he'd misbehaved as a colt, "desist."

Dummy let out a pitiful whine and lowered his claw, rather like a chastised child ducking their head.

Stark let out a breath and knelt next to the bot, resting a gentle hand along his mechanical arm. "Hey. What have I told you about stealing my stuff while I'm working?" Dummy whined again, claw lowering further. "We don't," Stark agreed and ran his fingers over the bot's edges in a familiar motion. "JARVIS?"

"I...believe Dummy wishes to assist, Sir," the AI offered, oddly uncertain.

"Dummy, I don't need help making a phone. Could do this in my sleep," Stark said, voice gentle, more gentle than Loki had ever heard him be previously. And Loki felt a little bit like he was intruding, which was an oddly unfamiliar sensation.

Dummy reached out with his claw and took a hold of Stark's shirt, gently tugging on it.

Stark wrapped one hand around the claw, the other running along the bot's arm. "I know. I'm sorry. I don't mean to abandon you, I've just been busy."

"Why–" Loki started and Stark jumped, having likely forgotten his existence. "Apologies. Why not let Dummy roam the tower? He appears capable of using the elevator."

"He is," Stark agreed, looking back at the bot and tugging pointedly against his shirt, which Dummy refused to let go of. "Brat," he said fondly before explaining, "I've always tried to keep them in the workshop – Dummy and You and Butterfingers – because sometimes people get a little weird about them. Ob–" Stark coughed, something tight in the lines at the corner of his eye, which was all Loki could see of his face, turned towards his bot as he was. "I knew someone, once, who complained. And, well, they're not really social, per say."

"You wish to protect them from harm," Loki deduced. "They are your children."

"After a fashion," Stark agreed, finally prying his shirt from Dummy's grip and standing. "Dummy's the special one, though," he added, grinning, and the robot chirped at him before grabbing for the plastic piece he'd had before. " _Dummy_."

"There is no way he can help?" Loki enquired.

Stark looked over the pieces of plastic and metal with a faint frown before glancing at Loki, then Dummy, who chirped hopefully. "Yeah, okay. Green. Go."

Dummy let out an excited, extended chirp as he wheeled away, the plastic piece held carefully in his claw.

"The _nice_ green!" Stark called after him. "If you paint it lime, I will lock you to your charging station!"

Dummy chirped in response and Loki chuckled.

Stark's lips curled fondly and he turned back to collecting pieces for the mobile. "There's a blue-billon applications now. Uh, games, software to make notes with, things to connect to Facebook or whatever, something to turn your camera light into a flashlight... You name it, it probably exists."

Loki glanced through the scrolling list that had appeared on the holographic display as Stark had spoken, uncertain. "I...do not know," he admitted as Dummy rolled back over.

Stark traded plastic pieces with Dummy absently as he said, "Well, I can give you the memory for things and you can decide later. There's a store you can download things from, and you can always remove anything you decide you don't like." He started fitting pieces together, the motions familiar and unhurried. "Steve really is crap with his phone, but there's this stupid game he's a little addicted to: Angry Birds. I don't get the premise – something about shooting birds at pigs – but it's pretty much the only thing he uses the phone for. Clint's the one who got him into it."

"Birds, yes, I see the connection," Loki said drily.

Stark laughed and set his work down as Dummy rolled back over. "Okay, this one should be gold, I think," he told the bot as he traded plastic pieces. "Careful, it's small."

Dummy chirped in understanding and rolled away, the small plastic piece held carefully in his claw.

"What's wrong?" Stark asked, and Loki realised he'd been watching after the bot, feeling unusually wistful.

Loki's first thought was to brush it off, to pretend it was nothing to concern the mortal, or to violently refuse any interest in explaining, as he would have done with Thor, but he acknowledged that this human had shared his family with Loki, and were they not a team now? (As odd as that concept seemed to Loki; he had gone to war many times with Thor, working as a team, but to share a burden with more than his brother was...nearly inconceivable.)

"You don't– Really, no, forget I asked," Stark rambled, turning back to his work. "It's really not–"

"I miss my children," Loki interrupted quietly. "I have not seen all but Sleipnir in many centuries."

Stark blinked, his hands pausing in their familiar dance. "You have–? No, wait, of _course_ you have kids. Centuries. Right. So, wait, our mythology – yeah, shut up," he snarked when Loki let out a snort of amusement, "I looked you and Pikachu up after the Chitauri debacle – says you've got, what? Six kids?"

"I have only four," Loki informed him. "Your mythology says many things which are untrue of us gods."

"Frost Giant," Stark reminded him, not unkindly, as he returned to his work.

Loki grimaced. "Invariably, you humans will get some things correct, no matter how well hidden a secret may be."

"The context was still wrong," Stark offered and Loki shrugged, resigned to the painful truth he had to live with. "So, four. Which ones? 'Cause now I'm damn curious."

"Sleipnir, Fenrir, Jörmungand, and Hela," Loki informed him, smiling as Dummy placed the now-gold plastic on the work table carefully.

"Okay, no, wait. I think..." Stark frowned in contemplation for a moment, then said, "Okay. Uhm, so, Fenrir is...a wolf?"

"Correct," Loki agreed, amused.

"And Jord– Jordm–"

"Jörmungand."

"Him. Jordan," Stark decided, grinning at Loki's frown. "Sorry, not tripping over his name. He's, what? Some sort of snake?"

"He is the largest serpent known to the Nine Realms," Loki replied, deciding it was too much effort to be irritated at Stark for his little nicknames; at least this one wasn't obviously insulting in any way. (That Loki knew of, though he could still claim no true familiarity with Midgardian culture.) "He resides in your oceans, so it is, perhaps, my own fault that I have not seen him of late." He grimaced at the admittance.

"You've sort of been trying to behave well," Stark reminded him. "Popping out to visit a giant snake would not be the way to get you in _any_ of our good graces, especially not Fury's."

"Thor would have travelled with me," Loki said with certainty. "His fondness for his niece and nephews is less in regards to Jörmungand, but he yet loves my son. That, I must believe, would have been accepted by all."

"Maybe," Stark allowed. "Still would have freaked Fury out. Which? Awesome. You should go out there with Thor next week or something and see Jordan. Take videos so I can send them to Fury."

"Perhaps I shall refrain from that last," Loki returned drily, having no interest in discovering what the director might do upon learning of his son's residence on Midgard. "You have guessed two, would you care to try for Sleipnir and Hela?"

"I'm not– wait, no." Stark paused as he focussed for a moment on the mobile, which looked almost like the machines Loki had seen Banner, Pepper, and Coulson with on occasion, though not at all like Stark's see-through mobile. "Okay, wait, one of them's a horse, right? Or did I totally screw that one?"

"Sleipnir is a stallion, yes," Loki agreed.

Stark pointed at him with the strip of painted gold plastic. "Our myth says you were a mare–" he started, deadpan.

"I was."

Stark just sort of stared for a long moment before shaking his head and turning back to his work. "This should disturb me more than it does," he muttered and Loki snorted. "So, no. I dunno. Tell me about Hela."

"She is the mistress of Niflhel, which you will best know as Hel," Loki explained.

Stark nodded, tapping his fingers against the mostly-completed mobile as he pulled open a drawer for a clear piece of plastic. "So you don't get to see them much. Sucks," he said with true feeling, one hand reaching out to touch Dummy where the bot had stopped to watch just behind him, the other fitting the clear plastic in place. "You and Butterfingers are in California, keeping an eye on things out there, in case I might need to make a stop in. Dummy was there, but then I decided I wanted _one_ of them here and, well..." He smiled, just a little broken. "Dummy was the first, before JARVIS, even, so it made sense I'd bring him. Even if he _is_ a bit special."

"He suits you," Loki returned, only half teasing; it had not taken him long to become fond of the robot, and for all his faults, he enjoyed Stark's company.

Stark rolled his eyes and brushed a hand along Dummy's mechanical arm before moving to snap the two pieces of painted green plastic into place, protecting the insides. "Here," he said, holding it out to Loki, "hold that for a moment while I find a charging station... Dummy? Do you know where–?"

Loki watched with some amusement as human and robot moved away, glancing over messy worktables for the object they were seeking. While they were occupied, he turned the mobile around in his hands, brushing his fingers over the green cover and the bright gold buttons along the bottom. It took him only a moment to discover how to flick open the keyboard and he blinked for a moment at the small buttons before shrugging and sliding it closed. It was an interesting shape, he thought, though a familiar one, after so long on Midgard.

Dummy let out a loud whir and Stark called, "Found them?" When Dummy chirped in response, Stark laughed and said, "Good boy, Dummy. Take one over to Loki, won't you?"

Dummy chirped again, then wheeled back over to Loki, carrying a cord that he recognised from a night spent in front of the television, where Barton had plugged the larger end into the wall and the smaller end into his mobile.

"The phone's got a battery, an energy source, let's say," Stark explained as he returned to Loki's side. "It can't recharge on its own, though, but it can use the energy running through the building, plugging it into the charger and the charger into a plug. This–" he tapped the larger part of the charger, where two metal prongs stuck out, "–converts the building's energy into something the phone can use, like how you have to change energy on Asgard or here on Earth to form spells, see?"

"I do," Loki agreed, slipping the charger into one of his pockets.

Stark grinned. "The battery should be fully charged, since I keep them in a charging station, so you can turn it on. This button, here," he added, pointing to one of the gold buttons. "Hold it down for a moment– There. You turn it off the same way, by holding it down for an extended period of time, but I don't know that you'll be turning it off too often – most people don't bother unless they're going to leave it without charging it for days at a time."

"If I were to be required to spend many days in Asgard, then," Loki deduced.

Stark grimaced. "Yeah, then. That's not likely to happen, though, is it?"

"It depends on what troubles might arise that require Thor to see to them."

"Fingers crossed," Stark muttered before shaking his head and proceeding to run Loki through the basics of using his new mobile. He did have to steal it back briefly to fight with the temperature sensors, but that was the only problem. Stark managed to explain everything in such a manner that Loki – who had always been a fast learner and was well acquainted with mortal technology after a week and a half in Stark's home – was able to figure the basic systems out with little trouble. He was a little bemused by the 'app market', but Stark assured him that he didn't have to use it if he didn't want to.

Stark showed him how to put people's numbers into the mobile, then gave him the numbers for everyone who lived in Avenger Tower – except Thor, who no one had ever considered giving a mobile, and had never asked about one – and Fury, saying, "Phil's the only one who calls Director Hook, but I always like to know when he's trying to reach me so I can answer in the most obnoxious manner possible."

"A promising idea. Assuming Director Fury would ever have interest in contacting me in any way other than through Coulson."

"Yeah, see, I thought he'd be most likely to call Phil or Steve if he needed to pass his criticism down the line, but he gets a weird pleasure out of telling whoever fucked up to their face. Or over the phone. And, well–" Stark shrugged, "–he calls Bruce and me sometimes to pester us about whatever we're working on. As if we're going to tell him things that we won't put on the SHIELD server." He snorted. "Please. Like hearing his growling is really going to make us hand our research over."

Loki's lips twitched with a smile, but he managed to suppress it, for the most part. "He but lives in hope."

"I'm not sure 'hope' and 'Fury' should be in the same sentence," Stark returned, motioning for Loki to follow him out of the lab. "He doesn't hope, he glares the universe into submission. Disturbingly, it works more often than not. Dummy, hold down the fort while I'm gone!"

"And yet his glares are ineffectual on yourself and Dr Banner?" Loki wondered with a hint of amusement while Dummy chirped in understanding and grabbed his and Stark's abandoned mugs to put by the sink.

"Not even Fury is suicidal enough to glare at Bruce," Stark pointed out, and Loki inclined his head in understanding. "Fury's glares tend not to affect most of us, really. I mean, Steve will bow to Fury's logic sometimes, and Phil backs down when Fury gets out his 'I sign off on your paychecks, so shut the fuck up and follow my orders, bitch' face, but the rest of us usually ignore him unless he makes a lot of sense. Or his orders come through Phil or Steve."

"Which he most assuredly knows."

"He knows, yeah. But, you know how if you use a particular technique against the same opponent often enough, it stops working?"

Loki nodded. "You'll eventually find a defence against his tactics."

"Or Steve and Phil will stop falling for his logic and Bitch Face," Stark agreed. "I'm hedging on the latter, especially with Cap, because he can only fall for the 'you're new to this time and things are a little different now' line so many times. Honestly, I think he's mostly humouring Fury, any more, but I don't have any evidence. Beyond, you know, an occasional change to the orders he hands down. He always insists he didn't fully understand the original directions when Fury calls him on it, but I swear he's pulling Fury's leg."

"It's a well-played trick, if so," Loki allowed.

"I'm not saying there's some truth to it, because he honestly doesn't get a lot of cultural references, and does have a very old-fashioned mentality about a lot of shit, but he was in a war, leading his own troops before he went on ice, and JARVIS told me he likes to read military hand books and history texts in his free time. So I think he knows more of the lingo than he pretends to and he's mostly just humouring Fury because the pirate's an ass, but he does occasionally have good points and his plans work often enough, even if they sort of go sideways in the middle, like that whole 'let's keep a crazy, over-powered, wanna-be god intent on destroying the human race on a giant hunk of flying metal with a bunch of mentally unstable super-humans and his desperate brother'. That one was _awesome_."

Loki laughed.

-0-

  
The rest of the day was spent continuing Culture Week – or Culture All the Time, as Stark has re-dubbed it – and arguing over the last eggroll when Banner ordered Chinese food. When Coulson finally ordered the television off, the humans let out a round of groans of complaint, but obediently pushed out of their seats.

"Hey, Loki?" Jane called as Loki prepared to teleport down to his room, disinclined to wait for the lift. He turned to her expectantly, so she said, "You're going back to Asgard tomorrow, right?"

Loki inclined his head. "I am. Did you wish me to transport you to the Bifröst site?" he asked as realisation flashed across the faces of the various humans, apparently having forgotten he was still required to leave their realm every six days.

"Yeah, if you could? JARVIS can wake me when you get up and we can meet up here."

"Certainly. If that's all?" he glanced over the other humans.

"You wanna take the Gay Detector again?" Stark asked. "I know we sort of got everything we needed from it, but it was awesome. And Jane's always going on about running tests two and three times, right?" He glanced at her and Jane nodded.

"I am not adverse to the idea," Loki decided. "If it remains in the main lab, Lady Jane can collect it before we leave."

"Or I'll bring it up in the morning. Whatever," Stark replied. "Right. Shoo, go. Elevator's here and I've got evil genius things to do in my lab. Move," he said to the crowd in front of the open lift.

Loki left them to their herding and teleported down to his rooms. He had JARVIS bring up a copy of the first book in a fiction series that Jane had mentioned in conjunction with a film series she wanted to watch sometime in the coming week, and settled in to read that before falling asleep.

-0-

  
Stark and Banner were both in the kitchen when Loki made it up there the next morning, resplendent in his Asgardian clothing, which he'd already changed to match Thor's preferred colours. They traded greetings and Loki turned to make himself and Jane both some breakfast, considering it to be the polite thing to do, as he'd arrived first. (And he was feeling more inclined towards politeness since making the choice to _not_ seek his revenge on the humans.)

"Thank you, Loki," Jane said when she stepped into the kitchen and he motioned at the unclaimed plate next to him.

"You know, it's never a good sign when people start making meals for you," Stark informed them. "My experience says that means bad news is about to happen."

"Your experiences are severely skewed," Banner muttered into his mug. "Also, shut up."

"Keep on the calm, Buddha," Stark returned before pulling out the Gay Detector and sliding it down the breakfast bar to Loki, who caught it without pausing in bringing his fork to his mouth. "I–" Banner coughed. "Sorry, _we_ upgraded it a bit; should be able to see if there's that same energy that's here on Earth on Asgard or in the workings of the Gay Bridge. Because I know you _said_ you hadn't noticed it before, but you weren't really looking, right? Also, it should record any other odd energy signatures that fall between your Jötun magic, the Asgard equivalent, and our special brand."

"You intend to discover further power sources?" Loki enquired as he slipped the chain over his head and tucked the bauble away.

"I'm always looking for more ways to make people look at me with awe," Stark said with a grin. "Also, adoration and an inclination towards my bed. And if I can discover a renewable energy source like the arc reactors – something more people can afford – we can maybe clean this planet up a bit. Warm light for all mankind sort of stuff, but without the opening-portals-to-other-universes bit. Also, saving the world. We are _all_ about that in this tower. There's something wrong with us."

"There's something wrong with _you_ ," Banner muttered. "And I'm revoking your coffee privileges for medical reasons."

"What? No! Brucy, you can't do that! My tower, my rules!"

"I'll call Pepper."

Stark slumped in his seat, clutching his mug against his chest. "Cheat."

Loki snorted and stood, motioning his empty plate towards the sink. "Stark, go sleep."

Stark scowled at him for a moment, then his expression cleared and he grinned. "Okay, yeah, totally. Go Thor. Do the Thor thing, because the Thor thing was cool on the Gay Detector and now I wanna see it in real colour. Like, with real eyes. My eyes. Doooooooo iiiiiiiit..."

Banner groaned and rubbed at his forehead. "I am shoving sleeping pills down your throat and leaving you for dead in the middle of the kitchen floor. I really will."

Stark waved a hand at him, staring intently at Loki.

Loki rolled his eyes and smoothly changed into Thor. He motioned for his magical space and pulled out one of his sceptres, which he then formed into the copy of Mjölnir, taking care to add the geas symbol. "Is this acceptable, Man of Iron?" he asked in Thor's deep voice.

"Holy fuck," Stark breathed, grinning. "I need to learn this trick. You are so totally teaching me this trick. Because this? Fucking. Awesome."

"No," Banner said as Jane carried her plate to the sink, muffling her laughter behind her hand. "Go to bed."

"Not tired," Stark informed him. "I can get at least another four hours out of this cup of coffee, and you can't take it away from me, because you're the one that gave it to me. No Indian Givers. Not coo–"

Loki caught Stark as he fell over, asleep.

"Now _that_ is a magic trick _I'd_ like to learn," Banner said with a tired smile. "Thank you, Loki. I can get him to his bed, if you two want to head out."

"Very well," Loki agreed, transferring the dozing human to Banner, who looked a little awkward, but well-familiar with the act of manoeuvring Stark's dead weight. "He will remain asleep for eight hours, but will awaken if you are called to assemble."

"Good. That is most appreciated," Banner replied. "I mean, we can probably manage without him if we have to, but it helps to have him in the sky. Steve!" he called as Rogers stepped into the kitchen. "Help me get Tony to bed?"

"Loki put him to sleep again?" Rogers asked as he relieved Banner of his burden.

"Loki did," Loki said drily in Thor's voice before holding out his hand for Jane. "Lady Jane, if you would?" As soon as she'd taken his hand, Loki teleported them to the Bifröst site, taking significant pleasure in the flash of surprise in Rogers' eyes before they'd vanished.

"Safe trip," Jane offered once they were again on steady ground. "And try not to spend all day in Asgard this time? The food here is terrible."

"I shall endeavour to avoid any suffering on your part," Loki promised with Thor's easy smile.

Jane crooked her finger at him and Loki leaned down, a little confused. She kissed his cheek with a smile, then turned and walked towards the tents, where a couple of people had appeared to look out towards them.

Loki waited until she was clear, smiling faintly with fondness, before calling, "Heimdall!" and standing with the ease of long practise for the Bifröst to surround and transport him.

"Loki," Heimdall said once the Bifröst had fallen silent, and there was an easing of the distrust in his golden eyes, one that Loki had not expected, and it gave him pause.

After a moment, Loki shook his head and stalked past Heimdall, telling himself he was best not to linger on these changes. Heimdall would see and interpret as he pleased, and if he thought Loki more deserving of his trust after his recent adventures in Midgard, it was all to the better for Loki. Because Loki might have forgiven the mortals, might have again accepted Thor as his brother, but there had never been any love between Heimdall and himself, and he was less likely to forgive the man for raising a sword against him or bringing Thor back from Midgard.

Loki was again given pause when he reached the small stable, as Sif stood next to two saddled horses. "Lady Sif," he said in a near a match to Thor's friendly tone as he could manage.

"I know you to be Loki," Sif told him.

Loki narrowed his eyes, all allusions to their being friends dropping away. "Then that begs the question: Why have you come?" he said, Thor's stolen voice too harsh to even pretend to be as he appeared. "You would think to see yourself, again, in my good graces?"

"You have no good graces," Sif spat. "And I shouldn't care to play friends with you but for the fact that the Allfather requested it of us, and I was the only one willing to come. So long as you play Thor, we are expected to treat you as thus. Do not mistake following orders as _pity_."

"You have no more pity than I good graces," Loki retorted and pulled himself up into the saddle of the nearest horse. "As the Allfather wishes, then, but don't expect any poor jokes to speed the journey." Then he touched his heels to the horse's sides and started off at a steady trot, leaving Sif to scramble onto her own horse and hurry to catch up.

The journey was tense, neither inclined to find a way to ease their passage. Once they reached the limits of the city, however, Loki straightened on his horse and plastered a stupid grin over his face. "We made battle with dragons last week," he announced in a cheerful tone.

Sif jumped, then seemed to realise how close they were to the city and followed Loki's lead of false camaraderie. "Dragons? In Midgard?"

Loki nodded. "They were most sporting opponents. You recall those lizards of Muspelheim the Vanir led in the War?"

"They called those dragons," Sif agreed. "Were they much like those you did battle with on Midgard?"

"In the ways of elements, but the size of the Midgardian creatures was at least thrice those!"

Sif blinked in surprise. "I don't imagine they were simple to see dead."

"Not in the least," Loki agreed cheerfully, a glint of cold amusement in his eyes that he took care to hide from those they passed during their short trip to the palace stables, but not from Sif. "We were nearly overrun when who but _Loki_ should point out the large body of water near enough to lead the beasts to."

"You _lie_ ," Sif hissed, eyes glinting darkly, as they reached the stables.

Loki flashed her a smile all his own and dismounted. "Do I?" he murmured, brushing a hand over his steed.

Odin strode out to meet them, then, putting an end to any further discussion of the matter between them. He greeted Loki much as he had the last time and bade him to follow to his study, leaving Sif to assist in seeing to the horses and returning to the Warriors Three with the tidings of 'Thor's' return.

Odin held Loki with business until the feast, whereupon he was forced to sit with Sif and the Warriors Three, laughing loudly at the tales of their recent exploits in Svartálfaheim. All five of them were noticeably uncomfortable in the others' presence, but they were loud enough to keep attention away from the stiff way they held themselves, or how little Loki ate, when Thor would have been stuffing his face and getting shamefully drunk.

When the feast let out, Loki hurried to follow his mother, desperate for a few hours to be himself with her, which she provided with a gentle smile. She had no reason to disbelieve Loki's stories of Midgard, and while he daren't share his forgotten plans for revenge, he saw no harm in telling her of his inclusion in the Avengers and saving Barton's life with a show of magic to delight the children.

He also told her how he missed his children – a sensation they could share, with Thor and Loki both so often on Midgard – and she dragged him out to the pastures where Sleipnir stretched his many legs when not serving as a steed for Odin. (And Loki was torn over that decision, because he held no love for the Allfather, but he knew Odin would see no harm befall Loki's son, couldn't help but trust that the safest place for Sleipnir in any battle was with his not-grandfather.) Loki ran for a bit with his son, in the form of a mare, while Frigga watched on with a fond smile.

When they returned to the palace, Loki again as Thor for the journey, Frigga asked, "Will you dine with us again?"

Loki shook his head. "I fear not, Mother. I made a promise to the Lady Jane that I wouldn't leave her over-long at the Midgardian Bifröst site." He sighed. "I should return to her now, truly."

Frigga smiled sadly, but didn't pause in turning toward the stables. "We mustn't leave a lady to wait," she said and Loki drew her into a slightly awkward hug as they continued on.

They were met by Sif and the Warriors Three at the stables, all four carrying bags for a journey. Loki tensed to see them, a foreboding sensation settling heavy against his heart.

"We have procured permission from the Allfather to join you on Midgard," Sif informed him with a turn of her lips that could have made good competition for Loki's meanest smile.

"We wish to join in grand battles and glorious feasts!" Volstagg boomed in agreement.

"Midgardians don't believe in glorious feasts," Loki informed the overweight warrior with a hint of a snarl, his mask of Thor's personality slipping for a moment before he dragged it back into place with an iron grip. He smiled at them, then, and said, "We would be glad to have you."

And it was a lie, such a bitter _lie_ , because Loki didn't want these buffoons in Avengers Tower, in the space where he felt _safe_ , where he'd only just begun feeling like he could _belong_ , like the humans didn't hate him for the terrible things he'd done but a year ago. And now these four would come, and they would spread tales of Loki as he was, they would tell the humans how much a _monster_ Loki was and he would be again an unwanted guest in their home. _Loki didn't want them there_.

But to disobey the Allfather was suicide, and Loki was not suicidal, for all he hated what he was and had thought so happily on killing those Midgardians and his brother, knowing he would face a most terrible punishment. He could not refuse Odin's acquiesce, could not bring himself to deny Thor some time spent with his oldest friends, now he was trapped by his word on Midgard. Loki would be miserable for his brother's sake, forever in his shadow, and he _hated_ it as much as he loved Thor.

Frigga hugged Loki as the Warriors Three and Sif picked their mounts, whispering, "You'll always be welcome home."

Loki tightened his arms around her, so very grateful that she didn't ignore his upset at this burden that had been placed upon his shoulders. "Thank you, Mother," he whispered into her hair before pulling away to collect his own mount.

It was a tense journey to the Bifröst, Loki leading the way with his back held straight against the heavy stares of his unwelcome companions. At the terminal, Loki brushed past a surprised Heimdall, Thor's form melting back into his normal form and the colours of his clothing returning to the comforting green and gold – because he _needed_ that comfort, needed it like he needed the four idiots following him to stay in Asgard. Loki took his position as Fandral explained, pompously, what they were all doing there and handed over the note of permission Odin had given them to allow their passage.

"Behave as is befitting of the warriors of Asgard," Heimdall suggested as the Warriors Three and Sif took up their positions.

"No need to remind the _Jötun_ how to act," Fandral said with a taste of the hatred long aimed at Loki's blood-kin.

 _Monsters,_ Loki whispered in his mind, willing himself not to react to the acid from someone he'd once counted a friend.

"Loki well wears his mantle of 'Prince of Asgard' on Midgard," Heimdall returned without inflection.

Loki felt as though his heart had frozen over with the ice of his birth; had Heimdall just _defended him_?

Heimdall slid his sword home before another word could be uttered and they were shot through the Bifröst with all speed.

"What was _that_ about?" Volstagg demanded once they'd landed, looking at Loki with dislike. "Have you learned how to control Heimdall as you controlled these Midgardians?"

"You are a fool to think I would even _attempt_ such when I am so little trusted," Loki snarled, turning a glare on the man.

"The Lady Jane," Sif murmured and they all turned to face the approaching human.

Jane offered them an uncertain smile and stopped next to Loki. "Hi. You brought guests?"

Loki grabbed for manners he didn't feel and forced a smile. "They had wish to visit at a less troubling time, and as my brother is bound by his word to remain on Mid–Earth," he corrected, reminding himself that he was best served returning to the terms the humans used while on their planet, "this is the only way they might visit with him."

"I suppose that makes sense," Jane allowed, glancing at the confused smiles of the four Asgardians. "We'll have to warn the others," she decided, pulling out her mobile. "Can you teleport all of us?"

Loki glanced back at the Warriors Three and Sif, pleased by the grimaces of dislike on their faces. "I might, but I don't believe it will be welcomed."

Jane sighed. "Okay. Do you have your phone? Or did you leave it at the tower?"

Loki motioned and drew his mobile from his magic space. "You would have me inform the Avengers while you collect transportation?" he guessed.

Jane grinned. "That exactly! Call Mr Stark, though, since Steve's never got his phone. And it's still Mr Stark's tower, even if he _does_ let us live there."

Loki nodded in understanding and pulled up Stark's number to dial as Jane took a few steps away, her own mobile held to her ear.

 _"Tony Stark, Sex God,"_ Stark answered promptly.

Loki let out a startled laugh. "You are no god, Stark," he informed the human, "and you should do well not to claim the title."

Stark laughed. _"I'll have you know I've got a plaque in my other house that says I am, in fact, a sex god. Huge contest, I won, hands down. So there."_

"Your judges had never met a true god, then."

 _"True enough,"_ Stark agreed. _"Not that I don't appreciate the call letting me know you're back on planet, but was there a reason for it? I mean, we're mostly used to you popping around, and JARVIS said you appeared on the balcony last time, which shouldn't freak anyone out too much."_

"The Allfather granted permission for the Warriors Three and Lady Sif to accompany me back to Earth. Lady Jane is procuring transportation for all of us, but we believed it best to send a warning ahead."

_"Ho! Shakespeare in my tower all night long. Cool. Hey, can your magical spaces hold living creatures?"_

"Not if you wish them living when you remove them. Why?"

Stark let out an amused cough. _"Right. Plan B. Trying to figure out where we're gonna store the Stooges and Xena while they're here."_

Loki really hoped those nicknames were as insulting as the ones Stark usually doled out and determined to look them up as soon as he was safely in his rooms. "Thor will likely volunteer to give the Warriors Three floor space, and Lady Sif may join them, unless Romanoff wishes to offer her rooms."

_"Yeah, I'll ask around. We'll have it all sorted by the time you all get here. Also, more food. **Lots** of food. Fuck."_

"Volstagg would see no harm in losing some stones," Loki said cheerfully, watching the Æsir as he did so. Volstagg puffed up angrily while Sif and Hogun narrowed their eyes and Fandral frowned in disapproval.

 _"Uh-oh,"_ Stark said, and the humour was gone from his voice. _"How much do we not want them here?"_

"The transportation is here," Loki said instead of responding to Stark's question, looking up at where a large helicopter was coming in for a landing.

 _"Loki,"_ Stark said, voice sharp, and Loki hung up before Stark could pretend like he cared.

They all climbed into the helicopter, Loki sitting as far away from the four Æsir as he could. Jane spoke with them for a moment, trading pleasantries, then settled in next to Loki, smiling at his faint surprise. _"Thor's really the only thing I have in common with them,"_ she told him over the microphones in the helmets they'd been supplied with when they boarded. As Loki could not hear the conversation of the other four or the two men in the pilot seats, he assumed they were on different channels.

"Thor is all you have in common with me," Loki replied.

_"And Mr Stark, and Bruce, and Steve, and–"_

"Your point is well made."

Jane smiled. _"And I've got science where you've got magic. They have, what? Head-bashing?"_ Loki chuckled and Jane's smile widened. _"Not that head-bashing is **bad** , 'cause, you know, Thor enjoys it, but it's really all they talk about."_

"Volstagg will happily speak of food, and Fandral is never tired of speaking of himself," Loki told her.

 _"Oh, yeah, **that's** attractive,"_ Jane returned drily and Loki had to look out a window to keep from seeing the Æsir out of the corner of his eyes and laughing at their expense. _"Do we know where they're bunking?"_ she asked quietly, as if to keep the others from hearing.

Loki shrugged and chanced looking back at her. "I believe Thor will be most welcoming of the Warriors Three, and Lady Sif will either join them on the floor, or Romanoff might be willing to share."

Jane frowned a bit, glancing over at the four laughing companions. _"Yeah..."_ she murmured, sounding uncertain, before looking back at Loki and asking, _"Could I stay on your floor? Knowing Thor, he's going to want to stay up all night and get drunk. And that's fine sometimes, but I'd like to get some sleep tonight. And Sif can have my room, if she wants."_

Loki blinked. "I...do not find issue in sharing my space with you. If it is truly your wish." And he really didn't mind, he discovered; he had grown used to sharing the tower with the humans, and he genuinely enjoyed Jane's company, as he did Stark and Banner's. He would be sorry to see Sif and the Warrior Three's vitriol turning those three, most of all, against him.

Jane smiled gratefully. _"Thank you."_

"Of course."

The rest of the journey was spent in an easy silence, Jane eventually falling into a doze against Loki's side. He cast a quiet warming spell on her jacket and draped an arm around her absently, as though to keep her warm and protected. He felt the other four's eyes on him, but determined to ignore them, having no interest in starting yet another war of words with them when he was so close to the solitude of his rooms. (Or not so much solitude, if Jane intended to stay with him for the night, but peace, at the least.)

The helicopter landed on the top of Avengers Tower, next to the quinjet most of the team took to their objectives when they got the call to assemble. All of the humans who resided in the tower – sans Jane and Pepper – and Thor were standing by the lift access when Loki, Jane, Sif, and the Warriors Three jumped out of the helicopter, which had fallen still. Thor was grinning at his friends, who grinned back, but he stayed back and let Stark and Rogers step forward to meet their guests, to Loki's surprise.

"Right," Stark said as he reached the incoming group, eyes flickering over the empty space between Loki and Jane, and the four Æsir. "Welcome to Avengers Tower. I don't care if you're gods or not, you start talking nasty about anyone else in my tower, I'm booting your overpowered asses back to the Gay Bridge and the pervert in the stars can help you home. Capiche?"

"I'm not sure I understand your meaning," Fandral said with an easy smile.

"I'm saying the first time I hear one of you idiots talking down to _anyone_ in my tower – Loki included, because I've heard there's some history there – you're going home. Allfather's okay or not, you're polite or you're out of my house. And this, kiddies," Stark said, motioning to the building they were standing on, "is all mine. You wanna hang with Thor, cool. I'm good with that, I really am, but you're guests and the rest of us live here, so you're gonna be _real_ nice."

"You are unaware of what Loki–" Sif started, Jane and Rogers both tensing while Loki was left with a sense of, _here it comes_.

"Xena, shut up," Stark snapped, eyes flashing with anger. "I know what Loki's capable of on the bad spectrum, and I know what he's capable of on the _good_ spectrum, which is more than I can say for you and the boy band. Loki's my teammate and my friend, and if you can't handle that, well. Helicopter's right behind you, feel free to leave."

Sif's cheeks flushed. "I was going to say, _mortal_ , you are unaware of what Loki _is_. He is Jö–"

"Jötun, I know," Stark cut in, unamused. "So what? I fly around in a metal suit, Bruce turns green and smashes everything in sight when he gets angry, Clint likes _really_ weird arrows, Natasha can kill someone with a piece of hair, and Thor likes everything extra crispy. Frankly, you're all aliens on my planet, and as long as you're not blowing shit up during my day off, I'm good." He looked the group over for a moment, then nodded and turned to Loki and Jane. "Frosty, Astro, let's go play with the Gay Detector for a bit while Cap lays out _his_ ground rules. We've got about a half hour before dinner's ready, and I've been itching to play since I woke up from my nap. Which, by the way, _still_ not cool."

"I am _always_ cool, Stark," Loki retorted, oddly giddy with relief; he would never learn to foresee the actions of these humans. "It's in my nature."

"Way to learn the lingo," Stark said, grinning, and the three of them moved towards the rest of the humans and Thor.

Thor stepped forward to meet them. He shared a brief, gentlemanly hug with Jane, then pulled Loki into a crushing grip. "Welcome home, Brother," he murmured.

Loki gripped at the back of Thor's Midgardian shirt and whispered, "Thanks," voice tight. Because this was his home. Because Thor had stood back with the humans and let Stark lay down his defence of Loki, instead of running forward and welcoming the Warriors Three and Sif without pause. Because all of these humans – this odd little family that Loki had fallen into by accident – had stood in his defence, unwilling to hear even a word against him.

And Loki didn't know how much discussion had occurred, how many people had been okay with Stark stepping forward with his no-nonsense demands, how long this camaraderie would last before Sif or one of the Warriors Three said the right thing to the right person and they remembered Loki was an absolute monster, but he was glad for their friendship now, when he had most needed it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're not going to talk about how much trouble this chapter gave me, or how much I sort of want to kill Tony right now. (Not the ending part – that went beautifully – but earlier, when he was holding everything up. Loki was a bit, too, but it was mostly Tony.)
> 
> Poor Loki. The baby hasn't quite figured out yet that the Avengers aren't going to just turn their back on him because of a few naughty pranks. Now, if he attempts to take out another city... XD


	2. Chapter 2

Half an hour was about enough time for them to get to the part where the Bifröst picked Loki up, working at double the speed of the actual events, and the group of three human scientists and Loki made their way up to the common floor, discussing the grey haze that marked the Midgardian variation of a power source for magic, which was in every part of the playback so far. Stark was still interested in learning to harness the energy towards powering the human race, and now that they'd seen how prevalent it was, Banner and Jane agreed with him. Which just left them discussing ways to harness it, and for that, they needed Loki.

"I really don't know how to describe it," Loki was saying for the third time as they stepped off the lift together. "If you had none of your images, I would not know of it any more than I did of the energy on Asgard. It is there, I use it."

"Is it in the wording of the spells–"

"Stark!" Loki snapped, in equal turns amused and irritated. "I. Do. Not. Know."

"We can run a couple tests," Banner soothed, ignoring Stark's ridiculous pout. "We know what it looks like – or, well, as much as we'll ever be able to see it – and the Detector – shut up, Tony, I'm not calling it 'gay' anything – seems to be able to project it fairly well. We'll take a couple hours tomorrow, run through some spells and see if we can't pinpoint a trigger."

"It may need a biological component," Jane pointed out as they stepped into the dining room, where the others had gathered. The table had been lengthened somehow, to accommodate the four new arrivals, who were piled to one side of Thor, where Jane usually sat. "I mean, it would make some sort of sense, right? This energy has almost certainly existed for some centuries, and the only way anyone's found to harness it so far has been through spells cast by a human. Or Jötun," she added as she dropped into Loki's usual spot at Thor's side and dragged the younger god down to sit next to her. Stark took the seat on Loki's other side while Banner took his usual spot between Rogers and where Pepper would sit at Stark's side, were she in residence.

"I can't tell if you're talking real science, or finger waving," Barton complained.

"It's the same thing," Jane and Banner chorused.

"For the most part," Stark added, grinning. "Don't worry, Abu, you don't need to get it."

"Fuck you, Stark," Barton snarled in return.

"Ooh, I'm on, but I get to top," Stark returned with a sweet smile.

"Behave," Coulson ordered, smacking the back of Stark's head on his way to his seat, a large dish balanced in one hand. He handed it off to Barton once he'd taken his seat, saying, "Macaroni and cheese, since we had the ingredients for a large serving. I understand that in Asgard there's always a large deal of meat at meals, but we don't tend to keep large stores of it here, especially as Bruce doesn't eat much, and you rather caught us off guard with your arrival, so this will have to do for tonight." He nodded at Lady Sif and the Warriors Three, and Loki pointedly looked away to hide his amusement at Volstagg's disappointed expression. "Also, please refrain from emptying the entire dish onto your plate; there is another in the oven, but it won't be ready for another ten minutes, so this dish needs to make it all the way around the table."

Volstagg moaned a little bit. When the dish reached the rotund Æsir, Thor grabbed it from Hogun and served Volstagg, then himself, saying, "Moderation, my friend."

"But _Thor_ –" Volstagg complained.

"You'll survive," Thor assured him, handing the dish off to Jane. "I have, have I not?"

"You have," Volstagg agreed sadly. Then he glanced around Thor at where Loki was serving himself. "Loki might share, mightn't he?"

"Certainly," Loki agreed pleasantly and Volstagg's expression lightened. "I'll even digest it for you first, to make it all the easier."

There was a beat, then Stark and Barton both burst out laughing. Romanoff, Banner, Coulson, and Jane hid smiles while the Warriors Three and Sif all glowered. Thor and Rogers both appeared torn over how to react, and it was Rogers who said, "Loki, please keep the bathroom humour away from the table," while Thor continued to war between amusement at Loki's response, and insult on behalf of his friend.

"You _nast_ –" Fandral started.

"Ah!" Stark called, still grinning, and leaned around Loki to point a finger at the Æsir. "Nope, nuh-uh. Shut up, or get out. Also, learn to take a joke."

For a moment, Fandral looked as though he might dispute that, because Loki _had_ started the rudeness, but then he glanced at Thor, who shook his head, and subsided. Loki wanted to goad him, to hear his insults and watch Stark kick him out, but then Thor caught his eye, his frown saying, 'I know what you're thinking, Brother; you've won this victory, let it lay,' and Loki turned to his food without speaking.

Dinner was made up of smatterings of conversation that died nearly as soon as they'd begun, as though everyone could sense the tense air between Loki and their guests and was afraid to set it off. Coulson did collect the second dish of food and passed it around as their current servings were waning. It was still less in a meal than any of the Warriors Three were used to, but there were no further complaints about portions.

Loki was the first up from the table, unwilling to stretch out the discomfort of the humans and Thor; he had no doubt that talk would flow smoothly without his presence.

"Right, sciency-magicy things!" Stark declared, jumping up from his seat. "Astro, Shrek, we've got a date with a necklace-projector-thing. Full of gayness."

"The only gay one here is you," Barton called as Jane and Banner both rose to join in putting their dishes in the kitchen and then heading to the lab.

"My eyes–" Stark pointed two fingers to his eyes, then up at the ceiling, "–see _everything_ , my little blue jay. And Agent Agent is, in fact, not as skilled at erasing things off my mainframe as he'd like to think." He flashed Coulson a slightly terrifying grin. "I _know_ things."

"I know where you sleep, Stark," Coulson returned without any apparent concern while, next to him, Barton had a hint of pink dusting across his nose and cheeks.

"I'm terrified," Stark replied, still grinning.

" _I_ know where you sleep," Romanoff intoned.

Stark paused, eyes flickering from Coulson to Romanoff for a long moment, then he pulled his fingers across his lips and winked _very_ slowly.

"Hm," Loki pondered as he made for the hallway to the lift, "it seems as though Stark, Banner, and I aren't the _only_ threesome in this tower."

"Oh, Christ," Banner muttered, rolling his eyes, while most of the humans chuckled and the four newcomers looked scandalised. Thor and Rogers both looked rather resigned.

" _Loki_ ," Stark whined, running to catch up with the god and looping his arm around Loki's waist, "you're not supposed to _tell_ them that! You know how Brucy feels about his private life!"

"Apologies," Loki replied drily. "I promise not to tell them about that thing he does with–"

Stark covered Loki's mouth and peeked back at where Banner was supporting a helplessly laughing Jane. "Shh. If you keep telling all his secrets, he might get _mad_. And then we'll all have to sleep on the street while they repair my tower. _Again_."

"Come on, Jane," Banner said, amusement creeping through his voice. "Let's go before Loki makes any _more_ of my non-existent sex life public."

Jane covered her mouth and shook her head. "Sorry, no, wait." She snorted and took a moment to catch her breath, still shaking her head. "Okay, sorry. Did sleeping arrangements get discussed?" she asked the room in general. "Because Loki offered to let me crash on his floor for the night, so Sif can take my room and you guys can catch up while I sleep," she added, looking at Thor.

"If you truly do not mind, Brother," Thor said, glancing towards Loki.

Loki shook his head. "I would not have offered, had I any concern with the arrangement."

"And, hey, we'll all just spend the whole night in the lab, cracking out on coffee and hot chocolate while we build weapons capable of wiping out all life on the planet," Stark added cheerfully.

" _Tony_!" Rogers snapped.

"Recall that you're in the _saving_ the world business, now," Banner said. "Steve, really, we're not making weapons."

"Despite SHIELD's wishes," Stark added, dark humour glinting in his eyes.

"I think you mean _to spite_ SHIELD's wishes," Barton returned and Stark let out a bark of laughter.

"Don't blow up the tower, and recall that tomorrow is Monday," Coulson said, dabbing at the corner of his mouth with his napkin before standing with his plate.

"Damn the whole world," Stark muttered, finally letting go of Loki and motioning that they should continue towards the lift.

"I am uncertain as to your reactions to Mondays," Loki commented as Banner and Jane caught up with them while they waited for the lift.

"I'm pretty sure that it's written in the Villain Handbook that someone has to attack on Mondays. Even if it's really just annoying and causes minimal property damage, something always happens on a Monday. _You_ happened on a Monday, in fact."

"You came through the Tesseract on a Monday," Banner clarified at Loki's raised eyebrow.

"Fridays tend to suck a bit, too, if they've been good during the week," Stark added. "Hence, the weapons brought to the party."

"Also, days when someone is out of commission," Jane said. "Do you boys mind if I borrow Loki long enough to move some things to his room?" she added as the lift doors opened on the lab floor.

"Go for it," Stark agreed as he and Banner stepped out of the lift. "We promise not to start without you."

The lift doors closed between them and Loki said, "Would you mind if I changed, rather than continuing down with you? If you need assistance..."

"Oh, no, I should be okay on my own!" Jane replied with a laugh. "Go on; I can't imagine it's comfortable to have to wear leather all the time."

"It is familiar to me," Loki said with a shrug. "But there is a certain lack of comfort in wearing Asgardian dress when all but the Warriors Three and Lady Sif are dressed as Midgardians. Humans," he corrected, and Jane's smile turned fond.

"And we all know which you'd prefer to be dressed more like right now," Jane agreed and Loki didn't bother hiding his reply smile.

On his floor, Loki quickly changed into the freer dress of Midgard, waving his Asgardian clothing into his magical space and recalling his mobile to drop into one of his trouser pockets; he doubted he would have need to hear it ring, but the weight was a comfort, a reminder of his heavier leathers.

Changed, he considered sleeping arrangements; he had only the one bed, and nothing else one could think to sleep on, but he had some extra pillows and blankets stored in the back of his bedroom wardrobe, and he had camped on hard ground often enough over the centuries that he saw nothing wrong in doing so on the plush carpet. So he set up a small nest in the main room of his floor and, when Jane stepped out of the lift, directed her to the bedroom.

"Really, I can sleep on the floor–" she started.

"This is familiar to me," Loki insisted, motioning towards the pile of blankets and pillows he'd made. "I have often spent weeks and months on a hunt or campaign with my brother and the others, sleeping on all manner of sticks and rocks; I am the prince of a warrior realm, Lady Jane, not one inclined overmuch towards pampering."

"I just... I feel bad taking your bed," Jane admitted, nibbling on her lower lip.

"If this is to last more than one night," Loki commented, and he thought it might, unless Jane was more willing to room with the Warriors Three than he, "I will see about ordering a second bed. Were it not so late, I would see to doing so now. For tonight, this arrangement suits me."

"Just– Tell me you're not doing this to get on Thor's good side, or something?"

Loki snorted. "There is little I would do solely to please Thor, Lady Jane, and offering my bed to his favoured companion is not one of them."

"I'm not sure I like that term, 'favoured companion'," Jane complained as she took her things into the bedroom.

"I would think it less offensive than calling you my brother's woman," Loki returned with a shrug.

Jane grimaced. "Okay, yeah." She shook her head. "On Earth, when two people are dating – or courting, or whatever Thor's calling our relationship today –, we call them 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend'."

Loki considered the terms and nodded. "I will endeavour to remember that," he announced and Jane smiled at him. "You are ready to return to the lab?"

"Yeah, let's go," Jane agreed and they took the lift up, rather than teleporting into the constant mess that was the main lab. Banner passed fresh coffee to Jane and hot chocolate to Loki as they returned to their previous positions and Stark started the playback again.

There was little new of real interest to the three humans and Loki during the rest of the playback. They didn't see any more of the grey haze of Midgardian magic, though there was a pale brown haze on Asgard that they all agreed was the energy that the Æsir used, rather than drawing it from the buildings, as they'd originally thought. Loki was surprised and pleased to find that his eldest son was as magical as Loki was, glowing with a sparkling black, not unlike the Allfather.

"Your kid, right?" Stark asked when the horse came into view. "Sleepy?"

"Sleipnir," Loki corrected absently, drinking in the sight of his son's magic. "Yes, that's him."

"Cool," Stark decided.

"You have a son?" Jane asked. "Those myths are true?"

"I have three sons and a daughter," Loki replied. "Your myths are often rife with lies, but there is some truth in them."

"More truth than you'd like, I should think," Banner said, and when Loki glanced at him, he had the smile of a man who had discovered himself a monster after too long thinking he was anything but. Loki managed a grimace of a smile back.

Once the images had played out completely, the four remained in their seats, sipping at the last of their drinks.

"It's too late to play with magic tonight, isn't it?" Stark asked at last, setting his mug heavily against the stone table-top. There was a sort of resignation in his voice and Loki recalled, with a hint of guilt, that Stark had been made to sleep through most of the day by him.

"Had I not travelled today to Asgard, I would remain for your play," he said by way of apology.

Stark flashed him a smile. "Nah, don't worry about it. I should get some extra work done on the suit before shit goes down, anyway."

That seemed to be the signal for them to depart, as they all moved to rise as one, Banner saying, "Try to get a couple hours, though, okay? I know you're high on caffeine and eight hours sleep, but it'll be just our luck that the attack happens in the evening, when you're starting to crash."

"Hey, I only crash when you refuse me coffee," Stark retorted, walking with them to the lift, their mugs left on the table to be cleaned later. "I can stay running for _days_ if you give me coffee."

"Remember the _last_ time you decided to try that?" Banner returned drily.

"Uh–"

"Steve intervened. Do you _want_ Steve to intervene again?"

"Jesus, _no_ ," Stark swore, waving his hands in refusal. "Scarred for life. Ask Bruce when I'm not around," he added to Loki's curiously amused glance.

"It's a great story when you need a laugh," Jane added as they made their way down the floors, stopping first to let Stark off, then Banner, then Loki and Jane. "Only Steve, Bruce, and Mr Stark were around, though, since Natasha and Clint were on a mission and Phil was still in the hospital. And Thor was on Asgard."

"And Lady Pepper?"

"She...wasn't living here, then," Jane said with care. 

And Loki wondered at the story there, wondered at all that had come to pass between his invasion and his return, what had turned that ragtag pile of humans from different corners of their world into friends living together under the same roof. It wasn't the first time he'd wondered, but it was the first time he'd honestly considered asking.

But he didn't, not then, not of Jane, who would only know pieces, the parts that had filtered down through jokes and quiet conversations over meals. Instead, he said, "Pleasant sleep, Lady Jane," and turned to his nest in the corner of the room.

"Good night, Loki," Jane replied and vanished into the bedroom.

-0-

  
Loki woke and set about his morning routine in silence, so as to not wake his guest.

When he stepped into the common kitchen, he found Stark and Pepper with a pile of papers at one end of the breakfast bar, Hogun and Sif at the other. "Good morning," he offered neutrally as he made for the refrigerator to find something to make.

"Morning, Puff," Stark called around a pen he was chewing on.

"Good morning, Loki," Pepper offered with a smile.

"You seem oddly comfortable in Midgardian clothing," Sif commented with a hint of poorly hidden malice. She looked away from the sharp look Stark shot her, but didn't apologise.

"They are surprisingly comfortable, for all their inferiority," Loki replied drily.

"That's a good brand!" Stark insisted, waving his pen at Loki. "Best money can buy! Don't you go all superior god on me."

"I _am_ a god," Loki replied, amused. "And superior." He picked at the shirt, letting his magic handle his breakfast while he focussed on the human. "I would not trust this clothing in a battle."

"Well, yeah, but most humans don't go around getting into fights," Stark replied with a roll of his eyes. "And when they do, they go out in something more durable, like denim or leather. Or they're Captain America or Black Widow and looking more for mobility than durability."

"Natasha moves fast enough that it's to her benefit, and Steve is durable enough to not need the extra protection," Pepper commented. "Mr Stark, I need to get these back to the office this morning."

"Yeah, sorry," Stark muttered, turning back to his papers.

Loki finished making his food and settled in next to Stark to eat. After the human went through a couple more papers, Loki picked one up off the stack and glanced it over.

"They're _really_ boring," Stark commented absently as he glanced over the one he had in front of him.

"Do you even bother to read them?" Loki wondered as he handed his paper over to Stark's reaching hand.

"Sometimes," he said as Pepper muttered, "No."

Stark flashed her a shit-eating grin, then admitted, "Okay, not really. I sort of look them over for key words and then read them if something catches my eye; I trust Pep to make me focus on anything important that I actually need to read. Most of these are requests to work on some new project or another, or transfers from one building to another, things like that. And _that_ , I leave to Pepper to sort through and decide if whatever shouldn't be approved. Because she's way better at this than I am." He smiled at her and she rolled her eyes, but smiled back.

Loki likened Stark's position to Odin's; how it was his duty to approve the requests of his people and oversee his kingdom, but he left many of the smaller duties to the Council, Frigga, Thor, and Loki, as he was but one person and there were only so many hours in a day. During his brief hold over the throne, Loki had experienced some of that strain, some of that demand of an entire realm looking to him for wisdom and guidance, for protection against Asgard's many enemies.

Loki didn't want to be king, didn't want that throne heavy on his shoulders, only truly knowing what his advisors wished him to know. Thor would be the better king, was more suited to dull smiles and brash promises of security. Give Loki his shadows and his knowledge of the people, let him remain an advisor to his brother, whispering the pains of the people, which the Council would never pass on; that was where he was happiest.

Loki did not begrudge Stark his position at the top, but it suited the man, with his urge to create and his duties to his entire world, beyond the reach of his tiny kingdom. And if Pepper was his Loki – was the one advisor that tried to connect king and people – Loki thought Stark Industries well cared for.

And Loki really needed to stop making connections between himself and these mortals, lest he become even _more_ fond of them and weep at their eventual passing. (He liked to think it was yet possible for him to leave without feeling sorrow, and he _was_ the god of lies, was he not?)

Barton and Coulson entered the kitchen as Stark's paper pile dwindled, Barton looking tired and Coulson as calm and prepared as ever. Barton made to reach for a box of cereal, then he paused and looked suspiciously towards Loki's innocent smile. "No," he decided and grabbed a package of Pop-Tarts.

"Those will rot your teeth," Coulson commented as he pulled out a bowl for cereal.

"Yeah, but they haven't turned into cockroaches on me yet," Barton returned, detouring along the breakfast bar to shove at Loki, who evaded him, and steal Stark's coffee mug.

"Hey! Magic Fingers, your pet magpie is stealing my ambrosia!" Stark immediately shouted, grabbing for Barton and missing so badly he almost fell off his stool. Loki flicked a glimmer of green magic to keep him upright and Stark flashed him a grateful grin.

"Barton," Coulson sighed, but he was already approaching Stark with a new mug of coffee, fresh from the machine, almost seeming to have expected the theft.

Barton grinned from behind his mug and dropped onto the stool next to Pepper. "How's business, Pep?"

"Less dangerous without Tony around, making suggestions to impressionable scientists who think he's some sort of god," Pepper replied drily.

"I _am_ a god," Stark insisted.

"No," Loki said, raising an eyebrow imperiously, " _I_ am a god. _You_ , Stark, are capable of creating impressive devices, yet remain, forevermore, _mortal_."

Stark grinned at him. "I can shoot laser beams out of my hands."

"Gloves, actually," Pepper corrected, gathering the finished paperwork into her briefcase. "You don't get to claim god status until you survive Hulk smashing you around like a doll."

" _Still_ the most awesome home video _ever_ ," Stark swore, then grabbed for the edge of the breakfast bar and shot a mildly concerned look towards Loki. "You're my favourite? Don't knock over my stool, please."

"You're expecting it," Loki replied and Stark let out a nervous chuckle.

Pepper gave up her spot for Coulson. "Let me know when the inevitable call comes?" she asked him as he set down his mug and bowl.

"Certainly," Coulson agreed. Then he leaned around Stark to look at Loki and asked, "Would you be willing to continue acting as my ride to the nearest base?"

Loki shrugged and nodded. "It is simple enough, and less draining now I am aware of the problem." He glanced at Stark, who grinned. "I would not much care to be the first to arrive, especially without knowing what to expect."

"Good. Stark, get Loki fitted out with a proper earpiece sometime today?"

"Sure thing."

Coulson turned to Sif and Hogun. "I am aware that you are technically acting as guests, but Thor seems to believe you would be interested in assisting with any problems the Avengers are called out to face?"

"We would be interested in such, yes," Sif agreed.

Coulson nodded and looked back at Loki. "Thor had some trouble with the earpieces when we first started using them; how difficult will it be to provide the others with them?"

Loki blinked in surprise at being asked the question, then realised that it only made sense, given his knowledge of both the technology and people in question. He took a moment to consider, then shrugged. "Lady Sif and Hogun will adapt well enough with only minimal explanation, Volstagg will likely have trouble only in that he cannot modulate his voice, and Fandral will need to be coached, much as I imagine Thor was."

"I can modify something for Sir Falstaff, and we can see if Thor can coach Narcissus. Alternately, wasn't Steve the one who managed last time?"

"We'll figure something out," Coulson agreed drily as Barton cackled next to him.

Stark flashed him a grin, then leaned over towards Loki and said, "Let's go make magic." Then, quieter, "And get away from Xena and Karate Kid; why do they look like they'd like to push me out a window?"

"The Æsir are familiar with your Greek myths," Loki replied. "They are aware that you're insulting them."

"I'm an equal-opportunity insulter," Stark said loudly as he got off his stool. "Aren't I, Abu?"

"A quick death is too good for you, _Carpet_ ," Barton replied.

Stark flashed him a grin. "Come on, Rudolph," he called to Loki, who followed him out of the kitchen with a great deal of amusement. Sif and Hogun were glaring at Stark like they would see him dead, but Barton's irritation was all for show.

They spent the entire morning in the lab, Banner and Jane joining them within the first couple hours. After Loki had cast some spells using the Midgardian energy for Stark, he found a stool that was mostly out of the way and watched Stark work on the earpiece for Volstagg and a couple other little things, chattering nonsense the whole time. When Banner and Jane joined them, they got around to discussing attempts to harness the magical energy, as well as possible lessons in some basic spells, to see if the magic reacted differently depending on the person or species and other such concerns.

Banner made them break for lunch, and they ended up getting sidetracked by the television, which had some game show on. The humans made a game of calling out their answers before the contestants, JARVIS keeping score over the television, while Loki – the only non-human on the common floor, as Thor and the other four were on his floor – watched them, bemused, and soaked up the culture lesson they were unknowingly providing.

The credits were just running, and the three scientists and Loki were moving to return to the lab, when Fury's voice rang out, _"Avengers, assemble."_

The Avengers scrambled for the lift while Jane relaxed back against the couch and Coulson stood calmly, taking a moment to straighten his tie.

Loki stood up, changing genders while moving so that, by the time she was standing straight, she was female. A motion with her hand and a sparkle of green replaced her Midgardian clothing with her Asgardian clothing and armour.

" _That_ is a cool trick," Jane decided. "I would _kill_ to be able to just sort of wave my hand and be dressed."

Loki smiled down at her. "It only works with this clothing because I have spelled it to; I will have to change back into human clothing the normal way."

"Still cool," Jane insisted. "Also, maybe more green and less black?"

Loki glanced down at her clothing, noting that it appeared very similar to what she wore when she called down the Chitauri, female cut or otherwise. She'd always preferred black, to hide any bloodstains, but most of the Avengers chose to dress in more colourful outfits, beyond the two SHIELD agents. She saw nothing wrong with switching the green and the black and doing away with her cape.

Without the cape and helmet, her clothing more green than black, and the fall of the gold plating on her female form, she looked very unlike the Loki that had come to rule Midgard over a year ago. Jane gave her a thumbs up when she glanced to her for approval, and she smiled gratefully before turning to Coulson.

"It should work," he decided and held out his hand to her. "The helicarrier, please; I'll give you further specifics once we're on base and I know exactly where the danger is. Also, Dr Foster? Call Ms Potts."

"Sure thing," Jane agreed and reached into her pocket for her mobile.

Fury was waiting for them when Loki teleported them onto the bridge, and his single eye looked her up and down once before he turned away. "We've got a handful of Doombots and some ridiculous skeleton things running around Manhattan," he said as Coulson stepped up next to him, his voice echoing in the earpiece Loki wore.

 _"I can take out the Iagos with the AMF Mark II,"_ Stark's voice announced.

"What the blazing fuck is an 'AMF Mark II'?" Fury demanded.

"Anti-Magic Field," Loki translated drily as she glanced over the screens to sort out the destination for her next teleportation.

 _"Iron Man, if you drop those Bots out of the sky, they're going to cause a lot of damage,"_ Rogers said.

 _"Emerald Frost, could you catch them and lower them safely?"_ Romanoff chimed in, and Rogers made a surprised 'oh'.

"I believe so," Loki agreed and teleported to a skyscraper she'd vaguely recognised that was within range of the Doombots. A twist of her wrist had one of her staffs appearing in her hand – she would be unable to use Midgardian spells, and she was yet too uncertain with her skills in Jötun magic to try catching them that way. "Whenever you're ready, Iron Man," she said, eyes flickering to the side to watch Thor come streaking in, aiming for the skeletons.

 _"Totally ready to stick this to Jafar,"_ Stark replied, coming to hover at Loki's side. _"Dear anyone who's magic-sensitive, this might tickle."_

Loki felt her ears pop as the Anti-Magic Field Mark II activated somewhere in Stark's suit, but she'd tested with the technology enough times to be familiar with the sensation and allowed no more than a faint grimace before she was reaching out to smooth the landings of the Doombots as the effects radiated outwards.

 _"That's awesome,"_ Stark decided as the last two Doombots dropped gently onto roofs some distance away.

 _"Not half bad,"_ Fury allowed, a hint of irritation in his voice. _"Now, will they wake right back up again when you turn your toy off?"_

_"Uh..."_

"I can disable them," Loki said. "Or they can be crushed in whatever manner you usually use to subdue them. They cannot fight back for the moment."

 _"Iron Man, Emerald Frost, see what you can do about neutralising the Doombots permanently,"_ Coulson directed. _"The others have their hands full with the skeletons, which don't seem to use any form of magic. Or, at least, not one the AMF affects."_

Loki and Stark both glanced down at the mess in the streets and Loki grimaced at the sight of the white bones surging around the group of Avengers, Warriors Three, and Sif. "It is, perhaps, for the best that we added to our numbers for the day," she commented drily.

 _"No kidding,"_ Stark replied before turning back towards the fallen Doombots arrayed over the roofs below them. _"Right, let's see to the Iago Band, then lend a hand. Do you need me to help you to the buil–"_ Stark fell silent when Loki teleported to the nearest fallen Doombot. _"Right. Fucking magic."_

Loki smiled to herself and settled in to destroy any connections to Dr Doom that may have survived the Anti-Magic Field. Seeing as how they were part technology, Loki couldn't be completely certain that there _was_ still a connection, but Doom helpfully solved her uncertainty by speaking through the Doombot she was leaning over, _"You're new. Are the Avengers recruiting now?"_

"We're always recruiting," Loki purred in response, "but we prefer our agents to be both beautiful, and in ownership of a sparkling wit, so you need not apply." Then she lashed out with daggers of ice, aiming at the spots she believed to be the most important, and allowing the element to freeze out the rest of the robot just in case.

Stark was laughing over the comms. _"Christ, I love you so much right now."_

 _"Stop acting like fucking teenagers on a picnic and kill the rest of those fucking bots,"_ Fury snapped. _"You two can fuck each other brainless later, but I ain't fucking listening to it."_

Loki joined Stark in cackling over the comms as she teleported to the next bot and dealt with it in the same way as she had the first. With Stark so familiar with the technology and Loki freezing anything she couldn't properly destroy, they managed to neutralise the rest of the bots in only a few minutes.

Done there, they joined the humans and Æsir among the skeletons, Stark taking the Anti-Magic Field offline and allowing Loki to banish her staff and use a mix of Midgardian magic and Jötun ice to cut through a lump of the skeletons.

Which then got right back up.

 _"Jesus fucking Christ,"_ Stark swore. _"I was **wondering** why you were having so much trouble."_

 _"They're disinclined to stay down,"_ Rogers replied drily.

 _"And let's not even talk about how much fun it is to find a way to take them apart for Hawkeye and me,"_ Romanoff added, irritation making her voice sharp. _"We're on civilian duty."_

 _"I think you got the better end of the deal,"_ Stark replied as the Hulk let out an angry scream and ripped a skeleton in two over his head before bashing both halves against the roadway.

 _"Si– Emerald Frost,"_ Thor said, _"can you think of any spells?"_

 _" **Anything** ,"_ Sif agreed tightly, and Loki caught sight of the warrior maiden cutting at a group with her spear, only for them to reform as soon as her swing was complete. Arrayed between Sif and Thor were the Warriors Three, struggling against the tide with varying degrees of success, and it was like Loki had stepped back in time, fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with these Æsir as a friend, trusting them to cut through foes while she wove complicated spells at their backs.

 _Spells,_ she thought, icing another skeleton as it got close enough to grab at her jacket. The ice was stopping them, but she couldn't say how long it would hold, and it would eventually melt, leaving them active again. "Thor, how is your lightning affecting them?" she asked.

 _"They develop scorch marks, but it doesn't slow them down,"_ he reported.

Loki narrowed her eyes. "You're not using your full power, though?"

 _"It's too dangerous,"_ he insisted, and she knew he meant that the humans would be in danger of getting hit.

 _"Burning them should work,"_ Stark said, following her train of thought. _"Get them hot enough that they turn to ash."_

 _"Will they reform from that, though?"_ Rogers asked. _"It doesn't seem to matter if we cut the bone in half or knock it out of a joint, they just get right back up."_

"Only one way to know," Loki replied and cast a hastily translated fire spell. The three skeletons coming at her burst into flames, burning hot enough for them all to feel. Loki winced at the pain from the heat, her Jötun self too close to the surface after using so much ice. If this worked, she would very likely regret it later, but she had no other choice.

The skeletons fell to ash and everyone froze for a moment – skeletons and Avengers alike – to see if the fire had done its job.

The ash stirred weakly before falling still.

 _"Do it,"_ Rogers ordered and Loki prepared another spell, widening her target area. _"Thor, can you get a similar reaction from lightning?"_

_"I can, Captain, but with the close quarters..."_

_"Understood. Widow, Hawkeye, I need you both to move the Hulk off the street; Iron Man, you and I are going up and out of the way; Asgardians, you know how much lightning you can handle."_

The Hulk roared as he was herded away and Iron Man's jets sounded loud in Loki's ears as her fire raged amongst the skeletons. She didn't startle at feeling Sif suddenly next to her, only joined hands and teleported them out of the way, casting more fire as Thor swung Mjölnir to call up a true storm.

Lightning slammed into the street, shaking everything and destroying the skeletons that it came in contact with. Thor directed it with narrowed eyes, leaving stragglers for the occasional flare of fire woven by Loki.

And then it was over, everything oddly still as the piles of ash got caught up in a gust of wind.

 _"Holy fuck,"_ Stark said. _"Thor, buddy, I'm glad you're on our side."_

 _"So am I, Man of Iron,"_ Thor replied, exhaustion in his voice, and Loki knew her brother would likely look to eat two or three times normal that night, then sleep like a log and awaken ridiculously cheerful tomorrow afternoon.

"Loki?" Sif whispered and Loki realised she was swaying, pain running along her exposed skin, and Thor wasn't the only exhausted one. "You're burned!" Sif realised, and she was supporting Loki with the ease of familiarity, holding her up when Loki might well have fallen.

Loki smiled at her, teeth too bright against her burned face, and said, "Jötun."

Sif looked for a moment like she'd been struck, reminded of the truth of what Loki was, but she didn't pull away and her expression set after a moment, ever the warrior. "Can you heal yourself?" she asked, and her voice sounded odd, mixing concern and an ancient hatred.

Loki motioned to summon one of her staffs, reminding herself that she needed to translate more healing spells into Midgardian magic; she'd focussed most of her attention on the fighting spells, and those for her tricks, and she was regretting it now. At least she still knew the spell to heal burns, after Banner's wounds, and it flowed easily over her skin, soothing the pain just as Iron Man's jets sounded above them.

 _"Nice work with the fire,"_ he said as he landed, concern poorly hidden in his voice. _"You okay?"_

Loki waved her staff away and turned the motion into waving negligently at him. "Of _course_ I'm okay," she said with her familiar arrogance. No longer in pain, she trusted her legs to hold her and pulled away from Sif, flashing Stark an easy smile. "Should I _not_ be?"

Stark tapped the side of his helmet. _"Comms are still open,"_ he reminded her drily and it took an act of extreme will to keep from grimacing.

"I am perfectly capable of seeing to my own wounds, Iron Man," Loki told him, unamused, "and I should like that you not concern yourself, first, with my wellbeing."

 _"Couple scrapes, Thor listing like a drunken bum, a lot of super-awesome property damage that I'm not touching...that's about it. Oh, and then there's you, burned and **leaning on Xena** ,"_ Stark snarled, and, okay, so Loki had forgotten that Stark could see things at an extreme distance because of his suit.

"I have survived plenty long without you looking after me. Don't you _dare_ think me some helpless maiden!" Loki snarled back, taking a step forward that wasn't quite as steady as she would have liked and shoving a finger against the glow of his chest.

Stark's visor popped up and he glared at her without his technology in the way. "You are a part of a _team_ , Loki. I don't know what that means in your fucked up head, but in this world, that means you _worry about each other_. That means I'm gonna worry about you, we _all_ are."

"What would _you_ know about _teamwork_ , Stark?" Loki snapped.

Stark flinched, then his eyes hardened and he grabbed Loki's shoulder, as if to keep her from running away. "What do _I_ know about teamwork?" he replied, voice low and cold with controlled anger. "I know that I can trust someone to be at my back, even when I don't think I need it. I know that when my suit breaks and I get metal fucking _shoved_ through my arm, someone's gonna be there to pull the damn thing out and ask how many fucking fingers they're holding up. I know that when I go on another fucking drinking binge, or when I haven't slept for forty hours, someone's gonna be there to stop me, to get me sober or shove me into bed. I know there's people I can laugh with at home; that'll stand with me in the field, come hell or high water; that'll see me at my worst and ask 'how can we help'; that won't turn away from me when I'm being an _ass_.

"But enough about me," he said, voice suddenly too cheerful and eyes still hard as steel. "What do _you_ know about teamwork, Loki Friggadottir? You, who likes to hide in the shadows? You, with your lies and your smiles? Brushing away thanks and concern in equal measure, refusing your brother for years because your dad fucking _lied to you_. You turned on your people, on your family and friends. You came here to fucking _kill_ us – I know revenge, I've seen it in the mirror, don't you _dare_ lie to me – and then...what? You think you can like us, but we can't like you? You think Thor's the only one who could possibly decide he likes you – loves you, even – because you're some kind of monster to a bunch of people who are morons anyway?

"You healed my best friend, you gave your brother's girlfriend a place to crash, you knock me out when I won't go to bed, you save the life of a guy who fucking _hates_ you, and you suffer burns to deal with a threat when you're more than capable of leaving. You think that only goes one way? Because it _doesn't_. We're the fucking _Avengers_ , babe, and once we call you our own, once you get your membership into the club, that's _it_. We don't turn you away for anything, we worry about you when you're hurt, and when your ex-friends come knocking, we tell them to shut their fucking traps, because you're one of us, and we protect our own."

 _"Someone has to,"_ Banner said through the comms, voice tired but kind.

 _"Although,"_ Coulson said drily, _"there will be a long discussion if you decide to take out any cities."_

 _"Way to ruin the mood, Coulson,"_ Barton returned.

 _"Let me ruin it further, you bunch of fucking **girls** ,"_ Fury snapped, _"go home, paint your nails or whatever you idiots do in that tower when I'm not breathing down your sorry necks, and let the clean-up crews do their work, or you'll be doing it **for** them. Am I clear?"_

 _"Clear,"_ Rogers, Barton, and Romanoff chorused.

"Crystal," Stark muttered, removing his hand from Loki's shoulder.

For a moment, Loki felt as though she were falling through the Void again, as if every support had slipped out from under her, but she shook herself, grabbed at Stark's suit when the world tilted slightly, and took a breath.

"Hey, Genie?" Stark said, and it sounded like he wanted to ask if she was okay, but thought better of it.

"Tired," she admitted, and the truth was like a burn, but it was true that she cared for these stupid, _breakable_ humans, that she liked being a part of their team, that she _wasn't trying_. She was pushing them away even as she pulled them closer, because it had _hurt_ , ruling alone and falling alone and being despised by everyone she'd once trusted, once called friend, because she was no longer the odd son, but the monster in the form of an Áss.

But what was Loki here? She was as alien as the Æsir, as monstrous as these humans she'd fallen in with, and just broken enough to care, to let them in just enough, too much. She didn't want to trust them, didn't know that they were capable of keeping her sane in her darker moments...but maybe it was too late. She hadn't killed them when she'd had the chance.

"Let's get you home," Stark said. Then, "You got her? You're not going to drop her out of spite?"

Sif's arms were at Loki's shoulders, reassuring in spite of all that had fallen between them over the centuries. "How little you think of me, Man of Iron," Sif said.

"You've given me a lot of reason to think poorly of you, and not a whole hell of a lot of reason to trust you," Stark replied, and his visor fell shut. _"If I thought I could get her back, I would, but I need at least one hand for direction, and I don't trust her to hold on."_ Loki scowled, but admitted, if only to herself, that she wasn't too certain of her grip right now, either.

"She fought well and bravely," Sif retorted, voice stiff. "She did more than I, and that is worth more to me than anything else. I will see her safely to the metal contraption."

"Quinjet," Loki corrected, and Stark's laughter buzzed in her ear.

Sif and Loki made it to the quinjet with minimal trouble and Rogers smiled as he reached down to help them aboard. "So, how about some ice cream when we get home?"

Loki perked up, feeling significantly less tired at the sound of her favourite Midgardian food. "Yes? Please?"

Rogers' grin widened and Banner and Thor both let out tired laughs while Volstagg asked, "What is 'ice cream'?"

"It's food," Barton called back from the pilot's seat as the engines whirred to life. Romanoff was looking back towards Loki and Sif from next to him, gaze coolly assessing, looking for any damage, and Loki was torn between irritation and an odd warmth.

"I like it already," Volstagg decided.

"You will find," Thor warned with humour as Loki settled into the seat next to him, comfortable with the arm he wrapped around her, "that Loki is as fond of ice cream as you are of everything else, my friend. Guard your container well, lest she steal it."

The Warriors Three and Sif all gave Loki uncertain looks, unused to the younger prince looking for more food than was her share – and often not even finishing that share, hence Volstagg's request for her dinner last night – and Loki smirked at them, always cheered to throw someone off guard.

The ice cream was there when they trooped into the kitchen, Pepper having gone out as soon as she heard the suggestion and buying more than enough for three times the number of people who found spots in the kitchen. Loki ate more than her fair share, and Volstagg managed a portion of the rest. The Æsir all agreed that it was delicious, and were surprised and amused by Loki's ability to eat twice as much as Volstagg.

"You have never cared to eat so much before," Fandral commented, enthralled. (He was often enthralled when Loki was female, and she'd more than once given him a bloody nose for standing too close. Judging by the flash of Romanoff's eyes any time he glanced her way, she, too, had fallen prey to his attentions. And seeing as how he was only using his eyes on her, Loki assumed she had deterred him to great effect.)

Loki considered punching him just for the amusement of it, but figured it would be far more useful to point out, "I'm Jötun; what do you _think_ my kin eat?" Then she smiled as Fandral back-peddled, bumping into Hogun, who frowned up at him.

Jane shook her head and bumped her arm against Loki's. "Let's steal away with the rest of the ice cream and put it in your freezer; we can binge on it tonight or something."

"I like this plan," Loki decided and the two of them collected the last of the ice cream and left with it, Loki still eating out of her current quart. Laughter followed after them, the humans and Thor too used to Loki's love of the frozen treat to be anything but amused by her actions.

Loki changed while she was in her rooms, and she and Jane moved the bed that had arrived while they were in the lab earlier into a better position in the main room, then made it up with Loki's extra sheets and had a quiet debate about who would sleep in which bed – Jane won and took the new bed. When they had nothing else to do, they rejoined everyone upstairs for a film or two, and when Stark started asking for suggestions for ordering dinner, Loki said, "Whatever you order, order a lot."

Stark looked over the four newest Æsir and, when Loki pointed at him, Thor, then sighed. "Yeah, I figured as much."

They ended up with Chinese food, because rice was filling, and there was something for everyone on the menu. Also, Thor was ridiculously fond of moo shu pork.

When they eventually broke for bed, Fandral and Volstagg dragging an extremely sleepy Thor along with them, Loki and Jane settled in on the new bed with some of the stolen ice cream and Loki told stories about Thor being stupid until she fell asleep.

-0-

  
Loki woke curled up with Jane on the guest bed. The ice cream containers they'd been eating from when she fell asleep sat on the floor, mostly empty and completely melted. She grimaced and flicked a spell at them to freeze them, then disentangled herself from Jane and collected them to put the leftovers back in the freezer.

Somewhere between showering and picking out her clothing for the day, Loki decided to be male again, and so when he stepped out of his room to find Jane stretching, shirt angled indecently, she let out a surprised shout and pulled the covers over her.

Loki laughed and shook his head. "You humans make little sense," he informed her. "It is well, then, that I might watch you change as a woman, but I may not see you poorly dressed as a man?"

Jane let out an embarrassed laugh, but still fixed her shirt before letting the blanket drop. "It's not a problem we usually face," she pointed out. "But, yeah, it's sort of ingrained that the only males that should see you indecent are those you're sleeping with, or that you're related to. And even the last has something of an age limit on it."

Loki shrugged. "Æsir have similar thoughts," he admitted, "though it is more that you must be decent outside the bedroom." He waved around the room. "This is, for the moment, your bedroom. You have allowed me within it and, as such, you have no cause for shame at my seeing you indecent." He sighed. "This is, perhaps, an unusual situation, however, by Æsir standards."

"I'm getting used to unusual, living with the Avengers," Jane said drily and Loki laughed. "Shoo, go get some food upstairs while I make use of your bathroom."

"As you please," he agreed, glancing towards the lift. "JARVIS, are any in the kitchen?"

"Only Lady Sif and Hogun," JARVIS replied.

Loki nodded and teleported, smirking when the two Æsir flashed him irritated looks. Not bothering to trade pleasantries, Loki set about getting himself some cereal, disinclined towards cooking.

"The Midgardians are oddly fond of you," Hogun said, making Loki twitch at the break in the silence. That it came from the little-spoken Hogun only added to his surprise.

"And?" he returned, turning and leaning against the worktop to eat his cereal while watching the two Æsir.

"I see none of your spells woven around them."

Loki let out a bark of laughter. "You think me capable of fostering fondness only through magic?" he asked, but he knew what answer the warrior would give.

And, indeed, "Jötun have no friends."

"I am raised Æsir," Loki countered. He was Jötun, yes, and he would always be a monster, but that didn't make him incapable of social interactions. Hogun and Loki had once been friends – closer than Loki had been to Fandral or Volstagg, and as close as he'd been to Sif, before he'd played that one prank on her that ruined them forever – after all, which was all the evidence he might need to present to him.

Hogun inclined his head, allowing him that truth, and so it was Sif who said, "An Áss would never think to claim a throne to which they have no claim."

Loki narrowed his eyes. "Then it is well I am not of the Æsir. I might lay claim to a throne–"

"You have sworn that claim away!" Sif snapped, standing.

Loki smiled as if to put her at ease, knowing it would only make her tense further. "Have I indeed?" he wondered quietly. "I wouldn't," he added as she reached for the hidden daggers she always kept along her belt, holding up a hand covered in ice. "I have sworn not to kill anyone, Sif, and I should _hate_ to break my word to the Allfather."

"Would you?" Sif snarled, but she didn't draw a dagger and Loki allowed the ice to fall away, vanishing before it hit the floor.

"He toys with you," Hogun pointed out quietly. "You give him too much power over your emotions, Lady Sif."

Loki smiled into his breakfast as Sif turned to look at Hogun with surprise. She turned back towards Loki and looked him over, assessing him as a warrior, rather than a woman, and her eyes narrowed. "Speak the truth, Silvertongue," she ordered.

"Now what fun would I find in that?" Loki wondered. He laughed when her fingers twitched, looking for a weapon to use against him, and said, "What truths would you have me twist?"

" _None_ ," Sif spat. "I would have you speak without your tricks, without your little jokes and taunts."

"Why does it matter so?" Loki wondered, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth and laughter loud in his eyes. "What interest have _you_ in the Asgardian throne? Beyond that of a warrior interested in following the orders of her king?" he added, a reminder to the treason she had committed in going against Loki's will while he had the throne.

"My interest is only in that I would see an _Áss_ seated in it, not a _Jötun_ ," she spat. "I am sworn to a civilised king, not one born of rage and ice."

"And of what was the Allfather born?" Loki wondered. Before she could respond with the anger flaring in her eyes, he continued with no trace of his teasings, "I have no wish for the Asgardian throne, Lady Sif. I have sat upon it, and it is not to my liking." He smiled then, more than a little bitter, and added, "You may report that truth to Odin."

Sif jerked as if struck and demanded, "You think–"

"He would not have allowed you had he not wished answers as you do," Loki pointed out drily. "That he thought you capable of discovering them is laughable, but perhaps he expected you to get them from Thor. Or to be more subtle. Though, you and subtle do not a well-matched pair make." He smiled at her, cruelty in the flash of his teeth, in the gleam of his eyes, and added, "One might believe he had learned that lesson three centuries back, as did the rest of us."

Sif flushed a bright red, anger and embarrassment stilling her tongue.

"Brother," Thor called as he stepped into the kitchen. "Apologise." Stark, Jane, Romanoff, and Barton crept in behind him, and Loki was left wondering how long they'd had the audience before his brother had thought it prudent to intervene, lest violence occurred.

Loki considered Sif for a moment before shrugging. "Lady Sif, my apologies for reminding you of so... _trying_ an experience," he offered insincerely.

"I would see your silver tongue _burned_ from your lying mouth," Sif snarled before turning and stalking from the room, brushing past Thor with an impressive amount of force, given their differing statures.

" _Loki_ ," Thor said, turning disappointed eyes on the younger prince.

"Yeah, I can see where she's not subtle," Stark said, eyes following after Sif's retreating form.

"An excellent distraction, however," Romanoff commented and looked towards where Hogun watched everything with sharp eyes.

Loki tensed, then relaxed with a smile and moved to the breakfast bar with the last of his cereal, leaving the way free for those who'd just arrived. "Well played," he murmured to Hogun as he settled into the seat next to the silent warrior.

"Lady Sif is not the only one who allows too much freedom when you trade words," Hogun commented quietly, a familiar smile in his dark eyes.

"Quite," Loki agreed.

Then Thor was there, Pop-Tarts packaging crinkling silver in one hand. "You should not tease Lady Sif so," he said, still frowning even as he hugged Loki around the shoulders, which the younger allowed with a roll of his eyes. "You once were friends."

Loki shot Thor an unimpressed look. "Have you been blind and dumb for the past five hundred years?"

"You might apologise," Thor returned stubbornly. "With honesty, she might yet see to a friendship again."

"Lady Sif would never make friends with a _Jötun_ ," Loki returned, his species acid on his tongue.

Thor flinched, then set his expression. "Race should have no stake in this. You were as siblings once; you would be so again."

Loki touched Thor's shoulder, smiling bitterly, and said, "Not everyone is you, Brother." He looked away from Thor's broken expression to finish the last of his milk and pushed away from the breakfast bar. "I have spells to weave. If you will excuse me?" He turned to leave the kitchen, his bowl floating idly around the humans to settle quietly in the sink.

"Hey, Frosty!" Stark called and Loki glanced back at him from the doorway. "Mojo lessons?"

Loki glanced towards Jane's hopeful smile and shrugged. "You know where to find me." Then he left them, teleporting before he was fully around the corner. In his rooms, he pulled out his book of healing magic and some fresh paper and pens, then settled in to translate Asgardian spells into the Midgardian equivalent.

Jane led Stark and Banner in nearly an hour later, Stark wearing the Gay Detector and all three appearing excited. Looking them over, Loki felt himself growing excited to teach them his craft, as they had been teaching him theirs, and he traded his mess of healing spells for his notes on simpler spells that he'd translated and they settled in to see what they might.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone's going to comment on this: Áss is the singular form of Æsir. (Apparently an acute turns a behind – or a donkey – into a god. XD)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mythology, I mutilate you. With _pleasure_.
> 
> Also, during the game show bit, I didn't feel like researching questions and answers, so I just left it all unclear. Sorry if that bugs people – I know, 'show, don't tell' – but I was feeling lazy. And this chapter gave me more than enough trouble. :/

"It's just not _fair_ ," Stark was complaining some hours later, when the four took a break for lunch, as directed by Banner. "I'm a _genius_."

"Maybe you just haven't practised enough yet," Banner soothed as they stepped into the kitchen, Loki smiling silently behind them at the continued complaints.

"Practice? Practise what?" Barton demanded, looking more than a little worried. His gaze settled on Loki, whose smiled widened and hinted at mischief. "Oh, shit. This cannot be good."

"Loki's teaching us magic!" Jane announced.

"We're _doomed_ ," Barton moaned, crouching down and covering his head with his hands.

Loki let out a cackle.

Banner sighed and walked over to help Barton back to his feet. "You are _not_. And it's really not as easy as it looks." He glanced towards the glum Stark and the smirking Loki. "Jane has the best handle on it, but she's still nowhere near capable of any of Loki's tricks."

"How 'nowhere near'?" Barton demanded, looking at the female.

Jane furrowed her brow and stared at an outstretched hand. She mumbled the fire spell under her breath for a good minute, repeating it over and over, before a flicker of flame appeared, dancing steadily.

Barton looked towards Banner then, one eyebrow raised. "That's pretty 'nowhere near'," he announced. "So, why's Metal Head whining like a spoiled kid?"

"Tony hasn't managed anything," Banner explained. "I can get a flame after a fair bit longer than Jane, but Tony can sit there, trying, until he's blue in the face and not even get a flicker."

"Poor baby," Barton cooed.

Stark flashed him a glare. "I'll booby-trap your arrows, you damn crow," he threatened.

"Uh-huh," Barton replied, unbothered, and walked past the irritated billionaire, whistling.

The four still in the kitchen set about making sandwiches, Stark slamming everything he could get his hands on to show how displeased he was. Banner twitched a few times before, finally, calling, "Tony."

Stark slammed the pickle jar.

" _Tony_."

"Mr Stark," Jane added, inching away from Banner.

Stark pulled open the fridge and grabbed a can of soda. He made to slam it on the counter, but Loki grabbed his wrist just before it could connect. "Are you a child throwing a tantrum?" he enquired icily. "This solves nothing, only chances more trouble. Control yourself, or I will refuse to teach you at all."

"What's the point when I _can't do it_ ," Stark snarled, letting go of the can and letting it hit the worktop with an unsteady bang, toppling sideways, and rolling to the floor with a crash. Banner flinched again, but seemed more in control of himself with the promise of Loki's intervention.

"You are inclined towards giving up after but a handful of hours?" Loki returned, lips curling with a mocking smile. "Why, then, should we think you capable of protecting this realm? Perhaps you are best to simply leave now, return to your cold machines and let the _true_ heroes protect the helpless."

Stark reached up with his free hand to hit Loki, but the god grabbed it and held him fast, not moving a centimetre when Stark pulled in an attempt to free himself.

"Lok–" Jane started before Banner shushed her.

"What would _you_ know about giving up?" Stark snarled. "Magic is _easy_ for you! I'll bet you've never struggled with it a day in your life!"

"As you have never struggled with your machines, I've little doubt," Loki returned, unbothered. Magic _was_ natural to him, as natural as breathing. Which only made sense, given that his very being was made up of nothing but pale blue energy.

"I don't struggle with science," Stark agreed, voice quieter, but just as violent as when he'd been near-yelling. "I have _never_ struggled with science. I fucking _made myself a heart_. With _scraps_! So why the _fuck_ can't I use you magic, your **science**!" he finished, voice rising and spitting the last word like it was a curse.

Loki blinked, his mind catching on to Stark's words – translating his meaning – and his eyes lit on the dim glow in the centre of the human's shirt. He let go of one of Stark's hands, not flinching when the human landed a hit against his arm, and tapped the arc reactor. "This. It is of magic."

"It's _science_ ," Stark snarled, tugging at his still captive hand and hitting Loki again with the free one. " _Real_ science."

"No, wait," Jane interrupted, stepping forward and ignoring Banner's hushed attempt to pull her back away from the altercation. "Mr Stark, _think_. It glowed on the Gay Detector. _Just like Loki_."

The anger bled from Stark's eyes as his intelligence came into play, and Loki finally released his other hand, taking a half-step back. The human looked down at the glow in his chest, touching a hand to it, then the Gay Detector around his throat, hanging just above the arc reactor. "JARVIS," he called, pulling the Detector over his head, "can you connect to this and find an image of me trying to cast magic?"

"Found," JARVIS replied after a beat, and a holographic screen lit up over the worktop, showing the group sitting on Loki's floor. Jane and Banner were dark shapes against the grey haze of Midgard's magic, fingers glowing as they gathered the energy, slowly, for a spell. Loki was a bright figure of blue between the dark shapes.

Stark's blue triangle sat across from Loki, flickering at the edges with sparks of red as he tried and tried again to cast a spell.

The real Stark's lips curled with a bitter smile as he said, "My terrible privilege."

"Tony..." Banner breathed and touched the other's shoulder.

Stark waved a hand at the image and it vanished. "Cool. That–that's cool. Whatever." He took Banner's hand off his shoulder and pressed the Gay Detector into it. "Have fun. Let me know if you figure anything out," he said before grabbing his plate and the fallen can, then leaving the kitchen.

"Oh my God," Jane breathed, one hand held to her mouth and eyes bright with unshed tears.

Banner clenched his hand around the Gay Detector as he turned to Loki, who was staring at the empty space where the image had been playing, brow furrowed. "Loki." The god glanced over, thoughts flickering lightning-quick behind his eyes. "Could he still cast magic? Despite the arc reactor? Could–?"

"I am...uncertain," Loki murmured, motioning for his plate to float over to him. "And I would not know how to test it, not without chancing damage to the arc reactor." And didn't that _sting_? Loki, who had spent nearly two millennia learning all he could about magic, had come across something he couldn't know, couldn't even _test_.

"Doesn't Mr Stark have a replacement?" Jane asked.

"Not of that sort," Banner replied, shaking his head. "He's got his older model, the one that almost killed him–" he grimaced and Loki's eyes narrowed, "–but not this one. Says he'd rather not make another one unless he absolutely has to, to keep it out of the wrong hands."

Jane rubbed a hand over her eyes. "I see," she whispered.

They made their way out to the common area, in silent agreement that they wouldn't return to practising magic for the moment. Everyone else was arrayed around the television, the Warriors Three balanced on stools dragged over from the bar and Sif in Loki's usual spot at Thor's side. When Jane settled in at Thor's other side, the elder prince looked up at the younger, silently asking if he needed to ask Sif to move, but Loki shook his head and balanced on the arm of Stark's chair; when Stark had wanted to offer comfort or an apology, he had shoved his way onto the couch, and Loki thought it was a reasonable way to offer his own support for something none of them could change.

Stark glanced up in surprise and Loki raised an eyebrow at him, a silent challenge to try making Loki move. Stark's lips quirked at one side and he returned his attention to the idiotic programme on the screen, shifting slightly to lean against Loki's side, accepting and grateful for Loki's presence.

Loki, Banner, and Jane remained long after their lunches were finished, ostensibly to finish watching the 'soap opera' that was on when they came in, then because Jane and Banner wanted to join in on the competition to beat out everyone else in the game show that Coulson determinately turned it to before the next episode of the first programme could continue. Sif and the Warriors Three seemed sad to see the change in venue, and then disbelieving at the sudden influx of shouted answers and the heckling of the contestants on the screen by the Avengers and Jane. Even Thor made a couple tries at answers, usually getting them wrong and getting teased by his fellow Avengers for it. Loki allowed an occasional derisive comment about one of the contestants, which Barton then usually expounded on, much to everyone's amusement.

Stark remained uncommonly silent through the first half hour of the programme, lips twitching with a faint smile from behind the tablet he'd pulled out of the cushions of his chair to work on. The other humans occasionally shot him concerned looks, but seemed calmed to see him working; only Loki, leaning against Stark's shoulder, could see how the human was flicking uselessly between screens on his tablet, as though nothing could hold his attention.

A question eventually popped up that would normally have been left for Stark to answer – some technology-based query that Banner or Jane could make guesses about, and that Coulson frowned over, but Stark called the answer out without even seeming to think about it – and everyone glanced towards Stark before looking back at each other and giving their own, uncertain responses.

Loki glanced down when he realised the tablet screen wasn't flickering out of the corner of his eye and blinked to see an answer there. Stark stared at it for a moment before closing out of the screen and returning to his idle flicking. Loki blinked, then said the answer out loud. After a beat, the answer was given in the programme, the same one Loki had given, and everyone turned to look disbelievingly at the Trickster.

Loki smirked at them. "Yes?"

"You can't possibly have known that answer," Barton insisted.

"You would do well to not underestimate my knowledge," Loki returned, amused.

"Looking it up on your phone is cheating," Romanoff pointed out.

"I did no such thing."

"Yeah? Hand it over," Barton challenged, holding out his hand for Loki's mobile. "Let's see your genius a second time."

Loki raised an eyebrow, then handed his mobile over to Jane, since he didn't trust Barton with it. "Perhaps you will," Loki commented neutrally, "perhaps you won't."

Stark continued flicking through screens mindlessly for another three questions before he typed out another answer. Which Loki then gave, earning him a disbelieving look from Barton. When everyone looked over at Jane, she held up Loki's mobile in evidence of his innocence.

"I vote for removing Loki's access to all knowledge," Barton insisted.

"SHIELD wants Loki's cover standing up under scrutiny in public," Rogers was quick to point out. "That means him learning random facts about Earth is _good_."

"When he decides to take over the world with his knowledge, I reserve the right to say 'I told you so'."

"Loki's not in the 'taking over the world' business anymore," Jane insisted even as Thor swore, "My brother would do nothing of the sort!"

Loki laughed at all of them and caught the answer to the current question – which they'd all missed to argue about Loki's knowledge – out of the corner of his eye on Stark's tablet. He called it out and they all sort of looked towards him in disbelief for a quiet moment before it was said on the television.

"Okay, no. You're going _down_ ," Barton swore and turned back to the programme with a single-minded determination.

Stark's shoulder against Loki's side quivered with suppressed laughter and he shifted so his tablet was more visible to the god. Banner and Coulson caught on to what Stark and Loki were doing after only one more question, and Jane, Romanoff, and Rogers didn't take much longer. Thor found the whole thing too funny to care how Loki was keeping up with the programme so well, the other Æsir weren't familiar enough with Midgardian technology to understand what was happening, and Barton was too busy failing to beat Loki to notice how the god's eyes would glance down at the tablet held against Stark's knee at every question.

"Dr Banner won this round," JARVIS announced as the credits rolled, "and Loki came in second."

"Technically, _Tony_ came in second," Banner was quick to point out as Loki leaned over to accept his mobile back from Jane.

"So he did," Loki agreed easily, finding no reason to claim a victory which wasn't his; his victory had been in keeping Barton in the dark for the entire programme, watching the archer get more and more desperately irritated.

"Wait, what?" Barton looked up, blinking, and Stark held his tablet up a bit more, smirking. "Oh, fucking Christ. I'm using _both_ of you for target practise next time I've got new arrows to test."

"You will _not_ ," Rogers snapped, scowling.

Coulson calmly hit the back of Barton's head. "He won't," he promised and Barton hunched down on the couch, arms crossed over his chest.

When the next game show came on, Stark jumped in with his own loud answers, back to his usual good humour.

One of the last questions involved serpents and Stark sort of jerked in surprise, then glanced up at Loki. "You were gonna visit Jordan," he reminded the god.

Loki glanced down at Stark, lips curling with amusement. "I know of no one by the name of 'Jordan'."

Stark rolled his eyes. "Don't play stupid with me," he ordered before peeking around Loki towards Thor. "Hey, Pikachu! Your brother wants to see his kid."

Thor blinked in surprise and looked up at Loki. "Jörmungand?"

Sif and the Warriors Three shifted uncomfortably in their varied seats and Loki smiled easily even as he looked them over with sharp eyes. "We are on Earth with him, are we not?"

"You've got a kid," Barton intoned. "On _Earth_."

"Shouldn't have slept through the Norse mythology class," Romanoff commented and Barton just sort of stared at her. "That's the World Serpent, right?" she asked of Loki.

"That is your name for him, yes," Loki agreed, glancing towards her, but keeping most of his attention on where the Warriors Three and Sif were trading looks; he had a feeling that they would see him kept from his son.

"This is going to go over so well with Fury," Banner muttered and Stark flashed him a shit-eating grin.

"Loki has the right to visit with his children, no matter how big they are," Rogers cut in, glancing at Coulson long enough to see the man nod. "I would think the director would be glad to have Jor– Sorry, Loki, say it for me again?"

"Call him Jordan, Cap," Stark suggested.

"Jörmungand," Loki offered.

"Thank you." Rogers nodded. "The director should prefer to have Jörmungand on our side, I would think, and the only way I can see that happening is if Loki gets a chance to talk to him."

"Sort of a, 'Hey, kiddo, I'm working for the humans now, so don't eat any of them'?" Stark said. " 'Oh, and if you happen to see a man in a metal mask, munch away'."

"And chance breaking his teeth?" Barton cut in, amused. "Naw, squeeze him to death. Drown him a bit, maybe."

"He might have an air tank," Romanoff was quick to point out.

"Squeeze him, _then_ drown him," Stark decided. "Or squeeze while drowning, I'm not picky. Hey, Puff? You okay up there?" he added, nudging Loki's side. Then he seemed to realise who Loki was looking at and his expression darkened. "Okay, _no_. Fury doesn't get to dictate who sees their kids, and neither do you four."

"It's not _us_ that would think to refuse Loki or Jörmungand a visit," Fandral said with a smile that was just a touch too wide.

"My nephew was banished to Midgard to remove him from Loki's side," Thor intoned grimly. "This is the will of the Asgardian Council and the Allfather."

"Remov– The _fuck_ ," Stark snarled, leaning forward so he could better see the five Æsir. "Someone explain this to me. Someone _unbiased_ ," he added as Sif opened her mouth. "Thor? Loki?"

"And they're unbiased?" Barton muttered, but he too was looking between the brothers, clearly interested in hearing more from them than the other non-humans.

"Jörmungand's mother is a Jötun," Loki explained quietly, "as is Fenrir's. Angrboda was murdered for bearing the children of an Æsir, and my sons were sent to Asgard shortly after Jörmungand was born. Fenrir was..." Loki frowned, trying to think how best to describe his middle son after losing his mother and meeting his father for only the second time.

"Feral," Sif suggested coldly, rubbing at her calf, where Fenrir had bitten her at least twice.

"Hey!" Stark called.

"Feral is accurate," Loki said, grimacing in dislike of the word. "He was disinclined to listen to myself or any other in Asgard, and the Council had him banished after he mauled one of their sons." Loki suppressed a smile, because he'd never liked the man his son had mauled, and he'd found the event hilarious until they decreed Fenrir would be banished for his crimes. "I managed to argue for Jörmungand to remain with me, for he was but a snakelet, and while he is much better behaved, he also grew quite large. When they demanded his banishment, I was...not well pleased."

"You brought down half the palace," Thor commented drily, but there was a glint of amusement in his eyes that hadn't been there in the past, and Loki thought his brother was finally beginning to understand his sense of humour. That, or Thor was remembering the girlish shrieking the various Council members had let out when the roof rained down around them, only kept safe by Odin's protective barrier.

"I thought you said there are spells on all the buildings to keep them from falling apart during an attack," Jane said to Loki.

"There are."

Stark laughed. "That's kind of awesome." He glanced up at Loki's tired smile and his own amusement faded. "They banished him anyway," he recognised.

"Loki's actions led the Council to believe him unstable, too unstable to raise so dangerous an offspring," Thor said in Loki's stead. "Father was disinclined to argue with them." He looked away, ashamed. "As was I."

"You and Jörmungand were not friends," Loki commented drily.

"He is my nephew; it was as much my duty as yours to stand for him," Thor insisted, then shook his head. "It matters little now. If you would visit Jörmungand, Brother, I would go with you. Though we may all be best served were I to remain at a distance," he added and Loki laughed.

"The Allfather–" Volstagg started.

"Father is not such a fool as to not recognise what realm both Loki and Jörmungand reside in," Thor interrupted. "If he finds disapproval with Loki visiting his son, he would have spoken against it sooner."

"And the Council?" Sif asked, dark eyes sharp as she looked between the brothers.

"What the Council doesn't know can't hurt them," Loki commented with an icy smile.

"The Council never said Loki couldn't visit with Jörmungand, only that he couldn't raise him," Thor pointed out, shooting Loki a silencing look. "If they find fault with this, let them come to Midgard and debate it with me."

"With _all_ of us," Rogers insisted. When the Warriors Three and Sif shot him disbelieving looks, he said, "We're a team; that means we all stand up for each other."

"I do not think Loki would say the same," Fandral returned, glancing towards the younger prince, who shot him a cool smile to hide fear beating against his rib cage. Because he was walking a fine line, remaining a member of the Avengers, and while Stark may have forbidden name-calling, he couldn't stop the occasional truths, like this one.

"It's not about whether he would _say_ anything," Rogers replied firmly. "It's about what he'd _do_. And if there's one thing I know Loki will do – beyond causing as much trouble for Clint as he can – it's that when it comes to it, when we need him to be there, he will be. He's earned my trust – _all_ our trust – or he wouldn't be part of this team."

"Can't say the same for you four, though," Stark added with an over-bright smile as he leaned comfortably back against Loki, a position he'd left when he'd leaned forward at the start of the discussion.

"Was our assistance in your last battle not sufficient evidence as to our good intentions, Man of Iron?" Sif asked stiffly.

Stark let out a sharp laugh, but it was Barton – surprisingly – who said, "You'll go to war with us, yeah, but I bet you don't care about us. We're just mortals to you people."

"You _are_ but mortals," Volstagg insisted. "Things that would leave us wounded for but a day would see you dead, and your days are short, compared to ours. You think Loki and Thor think any differently?"

"I'm saying Loki and Thor don't say 'just mortals'," Barton clarified. "We've got names and personalities beyond being good fighters. They've come to know us, to figure out what we like and what we hate." He looked between the two princes. "Tell me I'm wrong."

"I cannot," Thor admitted.

Loki met Barton's stare for a long moment in silence before his lips twitched. "I should have turned that cereal to vegetables."

"Fuck. You," Barton snarled and the humans and Thor all grinned.

"By this time next week," Banner said quietly to the Warriors Three and Sif, "you're going to be back in Asgard. But Loki and Thor will still be here, watching Disney movies and fighting battles on our planet. And maybe Thor stays for a promise, maybe Loki came for questionable reasons, but they can still leave whenever they want, nothing we do could stop them. They stay because they want to, because this is as much their home as your planet – more than, perhaps," he added, nodding to Loki, who nodded back. Banner looked the four over. "Would you stay?"

"We have a duty to our king–" Sif started.

"We wouldn't," Hogun interrupted. "If we remained long, if we cared to see you as beings beyond your short lives, we might, too, wish to remain. But we will not; it is not our way to become interested in those that will sooner die. And had events gone differently, had Thor not been banished and Loki fallen to the Void, they would not either. There is a chance for all of us, but it is not one we would wish to take." He shook his head. "We have collected what we came for; tomorrow we will return to the Bifröst site and Asgard."

"I'll see to it that transport is waiting in the morning," Coulson returned evenly into the following silence, the Avengers and Jane trading surprised looks.

"That's...good. I guess..." Stark decided, glancing helplessly up at Loki. When the god raised a wordless eyebrow in response, Stark grimaced, then said, "Bruce said Disney. I need Disney. I need..."

"Don't say _WALL-E_ ," Barton ordered.

Stark flashed him a smirk. "Excellent choice, Cupid. JARVIS, _WALL-E_."

"I hate you. Possibly more than Loki," Barton swore.

"You don't hate Loki," Romanoff said to her nails, which she was cleaning under with the tip of a knife. "You have a mutual pact of dislike and the urge to torment each other incessantly." She slid him a glance as the television lit with the film menu. "I've seen you hate people, Clint."

Barton huffed and made no further comment.

The film wasn't bad, Loki decided, and he thought he understood why Stark liked it so much, as his 'children' were all robots.

They took a break after the film to get their pizza, which Rogers left part-way through to order, then settled in to watch a couple Bond films, as demanded by Barton and backed by Coulson. When Coulson told JARVIS to shut down the television, everyone groaned a bit, but made for bed all the same.

-0-

Loki woke in time to see the Warriors Three and Sif off, but didn't bother doing more than sitting in the kitchen and listening to the helicopter take off. Once Jane and Banner had risen, they all retired to Loki's floor to work on magic while Stark hid in his lab and the other humans and Thor watched pointless programmes or destroyed each other in the gym.

About an hour before lunch, they were interrupted by Fury calling, _"Avengers, assemble."_ There was a small army of giant spiders running amok through Central Park, which they decimated quickly enough to return to the tower and eat lunch at the time Banner had scheduled for them.

Over lunch in the common, Thor asked, "Brother, when did you have wish to see Jörmungand?"

"This would be a good time to do it," Stark was quick to chime in. "The likelihood of there being another attack today is something like point zero zero two percent."

Loki flashed an amused smile at the human before nodding to his brother. "If now is acceptable to you, we may as well."

Thor nodded and stood. "Let us do so, then. Shall I collect Mjölnir, or will you manage?"

"Best not to take your weapon," Loki suggested drily and Thor grimaced in understanding before holding out his hand for Loki to take.

Loki had scryed for his son's whereabouts last night, and JARVIS had helpfully provided him with a satellite image of the area. There was a chain of islands near to Jörmungand's head which seemed largely unpopulated. It was to one of these islands that Loki teleported them.

Thor immediately began to shiver in his thin Midgardian clothing. "Brother, if you would?" he requested.

Loki smirked and considered leaving Thor to suffer for a bit longer, but he didn't wish to speak with Jörmungand with an irritated Thor at his back, so he twisted a spell to keep his brother warm. "Sufficient?" he asked as Thor ceased shivering.

"Yes, thank you," Thor replied with a smile. Then, because he was Thor and didn't always think, added, "At least now we know why the cold never bothered you."

Loki shook his head at the elder and walked some paces to the cliff overlooking the water's edge. "Jörmungand!" he called, magic lending strength and distance to his voice.

A great wave crested against the cliffs and Loki thought he could see a large shape in the distance, moving closer. Behind him, Loki heard Thor shifting uncertainly and he smiled a bit cruelly; Thor had often been Jörmungand's favourite victim when he played a prank, and Thor's irritated speeches on the proper behaviour of a prince just made Jörmungand wish to torment him further. (Jörmungand and Loki both had found bitter humour in Thor's words, then, as they both knew that Loki's children would never see any closer to the Asgardian throne than the bottom of the steps before it; it was only now that Loki could see how truly far from Loki and his children's reach the throne was.)

Jörmungand's voice reached them first, a hissing cry that translated to, "Papa! Papa came! Papa's here! Papa's come to visit! Pa~pa!"

Freezing water splashed high over the cliff as Jörmungand reached Loki, nosing his large head against his father's stomach, and Loki hugged him with a laugh, uncaring at his soaked state. "Jör, Jör, my sweet Jörmungand," he murmured and his son hissed in pleasure.

They remained in their embrace for a long moment – centuries of separation leaving them desperate for contact – until Jörmungand recognised the taste of the Æsir behind Loki. "Uncle Thor!" he called, peering around his father with a wicked gleam to his eyes.

"Nephew," Thor returned, shuffling back another step.

Loki laughed and scratched at a dull scale just under Jörmungand's left eye. "Let your uncle be, child."

"Yes, Papa," Jörmungand agreed, holding still so Loki could finish removing the dead skin. "Papa, why have you come to visit? Can I come home?"

Thor let out a pained noise behind them and Loki's smile turned sad as he brushed his hands against the newly uncovered scale. "No, I'm afraid not," he murmured. "Uncle Thor and I are residing on Midgard for the moment and I had wish to see you."

Jörmungand drooped and he rubbed his head gently against Loki. "I understand," he said, sounding so pained and lonely.

Thor hurried forward and ran a hand over Jörmungand's nose. "Were it my choice, Nephew, I would see you in Asgard again."

"I am too big for Asgard," Jörmungand acknowledged, and there was gratitude in his eyes as he flicked his tongue against Thor's side. "Where do you reside here?"

"In the new city of York!" Thor declared.

"It lies against the other large ocean that divides the land," Loki clarified. "We live with some of the Midgardians and do battle against those that would see them come to harm."

"Midgardians are strange creatures," Jörmungand informed his father and uncle, as though imparting great wisdom.

"Indeed they are," Loki agreed. "Would you tell me of them?"

Jörmungand's eyes lit up. "I can tell Papa a story?"

"You can tell Papa as many stories as you wish," Loki promised.

Thor chuckled. "Not quite so many, Brother, Nephew. If we remain over-long, the others will come looking for us, likely with SHIELD in the lead."

"We may have to break the telling up over many days," Loki allowed and Jörmungand hissed out a laugh.

They remained with Jörmungand until late in the evening. Stark eventually rang them through Loki's mobile, asking, _"You still alive out there?"_

"We are alive and well," Loki promised. "Jörmungand is telling us of his adventures."

"And pranks," Thor added loudly and Jörmungand hissed a loud laugh.

Stark chuckled. _"Good. We're about to sit down for dinner and Steve ordered I call you. Are you intending to come back to eat, or should we dig in without you?"_

Loki glanced towards Thor. "They are to begin eating," he explained to his brother.

"I can catch you food!" Jörmungand hurried to say. "And then Papa and Uncle Thor can stay a bit more?"

Thor smiled towards his nephew. "It has been many weeks since last I had fish," he commented.

Jörmungand let out a happy sound. "I'll be right back!" he hissed before diving out of sight and sending up a spout of water, which fell against the green shield Loki had thrown up over them.

"We'll eat here," he told Stark. "We'll attempt to return before morning, but I should like to again visit with Jörmungand before my return to Asgard in three days."

 _"We can work something out, no problem,"_ Stark promised. _"Hang out with your kid. And remember to tell him not to eat any humans, right?"_

"I shall do so," Loki agreed and ended the call.

By the time Thor and Loki returned to New York, the sun was just rising in the east.

"Before morning," Romanoff said from in front of the television, lips curled with amusement. "You're about ten minutes late."

"I said 'attempt'," Loki returned. "And it is not yet morning where Jörmungand resides."

"I suppose we can forgive you," Romanoff decided, "on account of time zones."

Loki chuckled and motioned for some tea to begin brewing in the kitchen. "Take care not to sleep over-long, Brother," he cautioned Thor as the elder stumbled towards the lift and his bedroom.

"Get some sleep eventually, Loki," Thor returned with a tired smile.

"Perhaps," Loki replied as he joined the female spy in sitting before the television. "Is there anything of interest?"

Romanoff glanced towards the television, which had the sound particularly low and subtitles turned on. "Cartoons," she allowed as the advertisements ended and animated characters returned to the screen. "Or infomercials, which are actually _more_ mind numbing than this."

Loki smiled and settled in to watch with her as his tea floated out of the kitchen into his hands. Romanoff's eyes glinted with amusement, but she didn't say anything and they remained in peaceful silence until Tony stepped from the lift.

"Morning!" he called with a ridiculous grin stretching his face and a mug in one hand. He made a stop in the kitchen, where they heard him knocking things around and muttering too low for them to hear – likely about the lack of coffee – before coming out with a freshly brewed mug and dropping onto the couch with Loki. "Hi. How'd your visit with Junior go?"

"It was well," Loki replied with amusement. "He and Thor only made three attempts on each other, and Jörmungand finds amusement in tormenting your seafarers."

"Definitely your kid, then," Stark commented.

"Very much so, yes," Loki agreed.

Stark glanced towards the quiet television, then back at Loki. "So? Stories. Tortured seafarers. Go."

Loki chuckled and settled in to tell a few of his favoured stories of his son's; Jörmungand was not inclined towards eating boats or seeing mortals drown, but he enjoyed popping up beside ships in the night and scaring their lookouts. He'd also scared more than one ship away from danger and rescued at least a dozen humans that might have drowned. He tormented people who came within his reach, yes, but he was not the monster the Asgardian Council had believed, and Loki was proud of his son for not falling to the darkness as Loki had, had made sure that Jörmungand knew just _how_ proud he was.

Banner, Rogers, Jane, and Pepper all came in and settled in around the couches during differing parts in the retellings, and they all seemed to enjoy it, more entertained by Jörmungand's fun than bothered.

The lift had just opened to let out Barton and Coulson when Fury's voice called, _"Avengers, assemble."_

"Fuck no. Two days in a row?" Barton complained. "This is so wrong. Also, breakfast?" He looked hopefully at Coulson as the Avengers that had been on the couches made for the lift and Loki stood to change.

 _"Stop whining, Barton, and get things done,"_ Fury snapped, uncaring. _"The world isn't going to stop for your stomach."_

"You can stop for doughnuts on the way," Stark suggested as they all piled onto the lift. "I vote for jelly-filled."

"We're not making a stop for food," Rogers replied, sounding simultaneously apologetic and irritated.

Coulson joined Loki for the transport to base as the lift doors closed. "Where are we headed, sir?" he asked Fury.

 _"Niagara Falls, Canada side. We're too far out, so you'll have to sit in their base and deal with the Northerners,"_ Fury replied and JARVIS immediately pulled up schematics for Loki. _"All I know is there's a boat straddling the damn border with civilians and some sort of monstrous fish. Loki, if this is one of your fucking kids–"_

"I have only one child in this realm, Director," Loki replied stiffly, "and he is neither small enough to fit that area of water, nor inclined towards violence against your race."

 _"Jörmungand is peaceful, Director,"_ Rogers insisted, his voice echoing both over JARVIS' speakers and the earpiece Loki wore. _"And in Alaska, from what Loki was saying."_

 _"Whatever. Get moving,"_ Fury ordered.

Loki took Coulson's offered hand and transported them to the control room JARVIS' images had directed them to. Guns were immediately cocked at them, but Coulson brushed right past them to the woman standing at the head of the room. "Status, Agent Laws."

"Interesting mode of transport," the woman returned, eyeing Loki and motioning for her men to lower their guns.

"Emerald Frost, our newest addition to the team. She's a magic-user," Coulson said as he took over one of the computer screens Laws had been standing in front of. Loki followed him closer to the screens, looking between them at the images of the Falls. "Status."

Laws shook her head and pointed at the boat in the middle of one of the screen. Water frothed white around it and little dark things moved against the hull, as if climbing or jumping towards the deck. "One of our scientists has been working with some of the sludge that was left over from the Chitauri invasion last year, as you know." She shot Coulson a glare.

"The British government is still in talks for us to hand pieces of tech over," Coulson returned smoothly.

Laws snorted. "Because that actually makes me feel better about your tight asses."

 _"Get to the point,"_ Stark called over the comms. _"I've got an ETA of about two minutes, Laws, and I'd like to know what sticky mess your group of incompetents made **this** time before I go getting it into the gears of my suit."_

Laughter from the other Avengers came through the comms following Stark's demand and Loki had to cover a smile at the constipated grimace that took over Laws' face. Coulson's lips twitched and he said, "You've been working with the sludge and it escaped containment."

"In a nutshell, yes," Laws agreed. "Our head scientist had been testing it on varied fish, especially after that accident your people reported about rodents getting into a batch and some of them dying, while others...changed."

"Became more resilient and grew in size," Coulson agreed, both agents ignoring Stark's cackling.

"Our team wanted to see if they could anticipate which species it killed and which ones survived it, so they've been testing on fish. One of the tanks cracked overnight and the whole batch got out into the river. No one knew what had happened until the reports came in from the boat about man-eating fish."

Coulson nodded, expression grim, and he turned to Loki. "Emerald Frost, Iron Man, Thor, let's worry about civilian extraction first, unless you have a quick way to take out the fish?"

"A death spell?" Loki replied. "Not one that would target only those fish dosed with this 'sludge'."

 _"Could you ice over the area?"_ Rogers asked.

Loki shook her head, looking at the tumbling water. "Not as strong as that water is, not without chancing damage to the entire area and the boat."

 _"Let's avoid that,"_ Rogers decided. _"As Coulson said, then: Emerald Frost, Iron Man, Thor, transport the civilians to safety. When we arrive, Hulk and Widow will stay on the jet and continue transporting civilians while the rest of us deal with the fish."_

 _"Understood,"_ they all chorused and Loki transported to the boat, appearing next to Stark as he hovered just above the deck.

 _"Nice landing,"_ he said to her and Loki flashed him a smirk. _"Right, friendly neighbourhood superheroes here to get you off this boat,"_ he said to the terrified people who were shying away from the railing. _"Kids first please."_

Thor landed behind them as Loki stepped forward to where a mother stood with three children. "I'll get them to safety," she promised.

"Thank you," the mother whispered, pressing the children towards Loki. When one of them clung at her hand, she shook her head and passed him to the eldest. "Listen to your sister. Mommy will see you again soon."

Loki made sure she was touching skin on all three children and warned, "This will feel a bit odd," then transported them to the receiving area she'd seen on the screens while she'd been in the control room.

Loki was gratified to find not a single parent who did not push their children to be rescued first, though both she and Stark did come across adults who thought they deserved to be saved more than the children. After the children were saved, they saw to the parents, keeping on at a steady pace until the quinjet showed up, then trading off and focussing on the fish.

 _"Any bright ideas?"_ Stark asked as he fired on one of the fish and it flailed a bit before dropping back into the water. A moment later, a fish with a black singe mark jumped against the hull.

"From where did this 'sludge' come?" Loki asked as Rogers beat a particularly high jumper away from a cowering man down the deck a ways and Barton stuck a couple fish with arrows.

 _"The large ships,"_ Rogers replied.

"Leviathans," Thor and Loki chorused.

 _"All right, geniuses, know what the shit is?"_ Stark returned, amused.

"It depends on where, in the Leviathan, it came from," Loki offered, freezing a group of fish and tossing them away from the ship for Thor to decimate with Mjölnir a bit out. "If it comes from along the spine, it's very likely a product of its own body, laced with drugs to strengthen it. If it came from the ports along its sides, where the Chitauri rest during flight, it is more likely the nutrient mix that the Chitauri require for flight through the Void. If it came from the cybernetic implants, it will be a violent, mind-less sort of drug, which they use to control the Leviathans."

 _"Those things were **alive**?"_ Rogers demanded, sounding sick.

 _"They are of a species from the same world as the Chitauri,"_ Thor offered sombrely. _"When the Chitauri were brought to control under one leader, the Leviathans were turned from beasts of burden – much like a horse – to ships of burden. Their magic and technology was not advanced enough to build ships from nothing, so they used what they'd always used."_

 _"Always nice to know we're **not** the most fucked up creatures in this universe,"_ Barton muttered.

 _"Sounds like this is the cyber-goo,"_ Stark commented as he blasted another couple fish. _"Though, I have to say, their habit of getting back up with a burn in their sides is disconcerting..."_

 _"It may be a mix,"_ Coulson suggested. _"Parts of the Leviathans were damaged when they crashed–"_

 _"Or were smashed,"_ Stark helpfully added.

_"–and some of the lines of sludge may have mixed. The rodents that got a dose from our stores didn't turn violent, but these salmon **are** violent, and salmon usually aren't."_

_"Yeah, no kidding,"_ Stark muttered.

 _"Any ideas, though?"_ Rogers asked. _"They're both violent and resilient, and there are other fish in the area to worry about, too. How's the evac going?"_

 _"We're nearly done,"_ Romanoff reported. _"One more trip and the last of the crew should be off."_

 _"Thor,"_ Laws cut in, _"how well is smashing them while frozen going?"_

 _"It seems well,"_ Thor allowed.

_"Can we freeze the area around the boat, then let the Hulk smash the ice to his heart's content?"_

_"He'd love it,"_ Stark replied.

 _"What about the other fish?"_ Rogers asked.

 _"Considering how violent these salmon are, I don't think there will be many – if any – alive in the area to be effected by the ice,"_ Banner offered. _"If someone's willing to keep him from sinking, I think the Other Guy could be a good solution to this."_

 _"Do it,"_ Coulson ordered.

 _"Hawkeye, you and I are on the quinjet with the last group,"_ Rogers ordered as the quinjet came back for the last group. _"Iron Man, keep Hulk off the boat until the ice is secure, then you and Thor need to keep him above water, if you can. Emerald Frost, we'll leave you to make things a little cold."_

"Only a little, Captain?" Loki purred and Rogers choked on a laugh.

 _"Hey, you're supposed to save the sexual innuendoes for the bedroom,"_ Stark complained with a laugh.

"Was that an offer, Iron Man?" Loki returned, shooting the human a sultry look.

 _"Oh, Jesus, both of you need to stop flirting on the comms. Actually, just stop flirting **entirely** ,"_ Barton complained. _"Seriously. The colour Cap's face is turning completely clashes with his suit."_

 _"We'll let the designers know next time they have to make a new one,"_ Stark returned.

 _"Shut up. Both of you,"_ Rogers ordered over the team's laughter.

 _"We're clear, Emerald Frost,"_ Romanoff announced.

Loki checked to make sure Banner, Stark, and Thor were out of her range, then motioned for the Casket of Ancient Winters to appear in her hands, knowing she would need its full power to ice over so much water. Thor made a surprised sound over the comms, but said nothing about her access to the artefact, so she closed her eyes and let her Jötun magic spread out from the boat, catching at those fish with the taint of the Void in their blood.

 _"Have I mentioned lately that I'm glad you're on our side?"_ Stark asked as Loki motioned the Casket away and he landed with Banner. _"Also, shiny toy; can I play with it?"_

"Maybe if you're very, very good," Loki returned, her voice rasping with the cold of her Jötun form. She eyed where Banner was turning green and growing in size. "We may wish to move back."

 _"Hulk is pretty good about not smashing the team while he has something else to smash,"_ Stark replied as Thor landed at Loki's side.

Loki stepped closer to her brother, using his natural warmth to speed along her change from Jötun to Æsir; there was definitely a temperature component involved in the magic of her birth. Once she was fully Æsir-coloured again, she teleported to the receiving area, next to the quinjet.

Rogers smiled at her from where he crouched with a family. _"Good work,"_ he said over the comms and Loki inclined her head in understanding. She saw Barton and Romanoff assisting with the civilians – passing out blankets, food, and drinks – and went to join them; an Avengers' work was never done, she was finding. And, looking at the huddled families – the relieved parents and the terrified and excited children – she found she didn't much mind this part.

-0-

The rest of the day following the attack on Niagara Falls was spent teasing Stark with the Casket, giving Thor the cold shoulder after he mentioned that Loki should return the artefact to Odin, and teaching Jane and Banner more magic. Loki spent the next day with Jörmungand, still irritated enough with Thor that he didn't even stop to ask if his brother wanted to visit. Jörmungand had been confused by Thor's lack, but well-used to Loki and Thor's spats to be unbothered by his uncle not having come along.

On Saturday morning, Loki was woken about an hour before he would have risen to leave for Asgard by an explosion in the city. He hurried to his window as Fury called, _"Avengers, assemble."_

 _"Can we talk about the morning attacks?"_ Barton complained.

 _"Get up,"_ Romanoff snapped in reply, and it sounded like they were in the same room.

 _"What the fuck,"_ Stark swore. _"Is that–?"_

Loki's eyes widened as he recognised the flash of pale green magic just before another building exploded beneath them. " _Amora_ ," he/she spat as his/her form shifted.

 _"What?"_ Thor called and something crashed nearby him. _"By the Norns. What is she doing here?"_

 _"Friend of yours?"_ Stark asked drily.

" 'Friend' is, perhaps, not the word I would use," Loki returned acidly as she finished forming her armour around her and slipped her earpiece in. "Coulson, you're on your own."

 _"Try to get her to stop destroying public property,"_ Coulson requested before Loki teleported.

"Loki!" Amora crowed in glee as Loki appeared next to her. Then she shot out a streak of pale magic, which Loki reflected harmlessly towards the sky.

"Always a pleasure, Amora," Loki returned silkily.

 _"Old flame?"_ Stark asked in her ear.

 _"They were students of magic together,"_ Thor explained as Loki blocked a few more of Amora's taunting flashes of violent magic, trying to keep them away from the buildings. _"Loki was by far the better, and there was jealousy. Not long after word got out that Loki had lain with a Jötun, Amora exploded in violence. Loki faced her down and she was imprisoned for three centuries under Loki's magic before being banished."_

"What brings you to Midgard?" Loki asked her opponent as she heard Stark rocketing out of the tower behind her.

"You did, in fact," Amora replied with an over-bright smile. "I had heard of your treason, _monster_ , and your fleeing to Mid–"

A blast from Stark's repulsors slammed the Æsir into the side of a nearby building. "I thought we were _avoiding_ property damage," Loki commented drily.

 _"Sorry,"_ Stark replied, sounding anything but. _"The whole 'monster' thing just rubs me wrong."_

"So you have friends!" Amora shrieked as she pulled herself from the building. "Well, so have I!" She pointed to the street far below them, where a large form in blue was trashing everything in his path, including people. Amora let out a scream as an arrow bloomed in her right shoulder and she fell back into the hole she'd created when Stark had blasted her.

 _"What the hell is going on down there?"_ Rogers demanded.

 _"Skurge,"_ Thor recognised.

"You would call him a minion," Loki suggested. "Very destructive, and hardy as any Æsir."

 _"Great."_ Rogers let out an irritated sound. _"Thor, Black Widow, Hulk, you three are with me on the ground. Hawkeye, Iron Man, provide support to Emerald Frost if she needs it. Let's get these two rounded and locked up."_

Thor went flying between where Loki and Stark stood or hovered and Amora hid. The enchantress ducked out of hiding, eyes wide, and called, "Thor! Thor, my gentle pri–!" She fell back behind her hiding spot with a scream as an arrow, repulsors blast, and sparkle of emerald green magic hit her outstretched arm.

"Amora may or may not have a crush on Thor," Loki mentioned with a smirk.

 _"Have I mentioned how little sense you people make?"_ Stark complained. _"Seriously."_

 _"Shut up, Iron Man,"_ Barton ordered. _"Emerald Frost, can you get her out into the open? I'm not much for a Mexican standoff today."_

 _"Especially on no breakfast,"_ Stark agreed.

"I, too, have other things to see done today," Loki commented to the two humans before calling out, "Amora! Are you so afraid of these mortals that you would hide from them? How the mighty Enchantress has fallen!"

"Say that to my face, Jötun scum!" Amora snarled as she launched herself from the building and towards – unexpectedly – Barton.

Loki recognised the glint of the spell at Amora's fingertips, knew her strength lay in mind-control magics, and felt panic flare cold against her heart. "Hawkeye, _move_!" she shouted.

Barton didn't stop to think, just jumped off the ledge of the building, avoiding the streak of pale green by a slim margin. Stark dove to catch him, leaving Loki to defend herself against Amora's furious onslaught of violence at the loss of her target.

"Mortals are beneath us!" Amora snarled as one of her spells got through Loki's defence, splashing pale green against the gold armour on her shoulders. "It's their _duty_ to do our bidding!"

Loki grit her teeth. "Not against their will," she spat as she wove a nasty spell that would enclose Amora in ice. "Not when they have _my_ protection!" She released the spell and it bloomed bright blue against the pinks and oranges of dawn.

Amora managed to dodge most of the spell, but it caught her left leg up to her hip and her left hand. She struggled with it for a moment before an arrow slammed into her stomach from a grim archer and a repulsor blast singed her hair, sending her to fall like a stone to the street below.

Loki teleported down to the street to catch her before any further damage could be done to the surrounding buildings or the civilians who were fleeing from where Skurge was struggling against Thor and Hulk, Rogers and Romanoff running crowd control and trying to keep the property damage to a minimum.

Just before Amora got in range for the spell Loki was weaving, the Enchantress managed to twist and send down a violent blast that tore up the ground around Loki.

 _"Loki!"_ Stark shouted over the comms, shortly followed by Barton's own concerned call.

Loki shoved against the rubble that had pinned her, her unfinished spell washing painfully against her skin, and only just managed to push it away and roll to the side before Amora and the attached ice smashed against where Loki had been laying. The ice shattered and Loki chanced a wound to the side to protect a crying child that had fallen next to where her mother was crushed under part of the destroyed street.

"Loki, Loki, Loki," Amora tutted as she sauntered over. She ducked the dagger that Loki flung at her and slammed her with magic, sending both the Jötun and the human child she was curled protectively around into a nearby shop front.

"Iron Man," Loki gasped over the comms, "get the AMF."

 _"It'll affect you too!"_ Stark called back.

"What's this?" Amora taunted as she stepped through the hole in the broken glass. "I'm sorry, did I cause a magical backlash?"

"Just _do it_ ," Loki hissed as she left the child sobbing under a half-destroyed counter and ran towards Amora, intending to get her away from the civilian and hold her attention long enough for Stark to neutralise her.

Amora had no skills in physical fighting, unlike Loki, and the Jötun was too close for her to chance another explosive spell, so she turned and ran back out into the street, giving them both room to manoeuvre. They traded blows – Amora's magic to Loki's daggers and the occasional shattered ice she found at hand – both ducking behind rubble to avoid return fire. Loki's connection to magic finally returned at the same moment that Barton found a perch above them and started raining arrows down on Amora.

 _"Get out of there before Iron Man gets back,"_ Barton suggested. _"I've got–"_ He was cut off as a streak of pale green magic caused the concrete under his feet to give out from under him.

Loki called on her magic and formed a hasty ice slide under the falling archer – helping him to a safe landing on the street – then called up all the broken ice that still lay on the pavement to target her opponent. "Thanks for the offer," she breathed to Barton as Amora refocused her attentions on Loki, "but I think I'll stay here for the moment."

 _"Yeah, I tried,"_ Barton grunted and fired another couple arrows at Amora from behind the slide before running behind a building as she turned towards the construct to blast it apart.

Loki felt the world darkening suddenly, the Void closing in, and she knew the AMF was in effect. But even knowing _what_ caused the terror didn't protect her from it and the horror was crawling over her skin, forcing through her nose and ears. She closed her eyes against it – there was nothing to see anyway – and clenched her jaw against the slime over her lips. And her magic was gone, was no longer the hot/cold comfort held against her skin and the panic was setting in, couldn't be held back even though she _knew_ this was nothing, this didn't exist, it was just a lack of magic, just Stark's technology, that it would end if she held out just a little bit longer, just a breath more and was she even breathing?

 _"I've got you,"_ Stark's mechanized voice cut through the dark haze. _"I've got you, and the others have got Amora and her giant buddy and I'm getting you out of here, okay? Loki?"_

The horrors were fading away, but the blackness remained and Loki sank into it, let it carry her away to nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS CHAPTER SUCKED HAIRY MONKEY BALLS.  
> That's all.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slash lemon this chapter. I _**do not**_ mark lemons. Which some people get upset over, but if you're going to be reading fics that are rated M/R, you should know to expect it. (Least, that's my thoughts on the matter. Also, I don't like the inserts in the storyline that say ' **lemon below** ' or whatever the author thinks is clever that day. I think they're tacky and take away from the story. So I don't use them. SUCK IT.)  
> If you REALLY need to look away, it's shortly after Loki puts aside his ice cream, the second time (s)he wakes. There's a bit of discussion in there between Loki and Tony, though, so you may miss development if you skip stuff.

Loki woke to the comforting – though worryingly weak – chill of her magic and Stark's voice, "–n't be surprised, 'cause, well, _Loki_ can teleport around to her heart's content, but _really_? Don't you people have any sense of personal privacy? I mean, you're randomly appearing in people's _homes_. Around here, that's _so_ many kinds of rude, I can't even tell you."

"We do apologise, Man of Iron," Frigga returned, and Loki smiled at her mother's gentle voice, always a comfort.

Then her eyes jerked open because, _What is Mother doing on Midgard?_

"I had heard my son was unwell," Odin informed the human and Loki struggled to push out of her bed. She grimaced at the blue of her skin, but it would not do well to leave Stark to irritate the Allfather alone, Jötun form or not. And Stark _would_ irritate Odin, as he irritated everyone given the chance to speak for long enough; it was a skill of his that she found simultaneously amusing and obnoxious.

"Uh, your _son_ is just fine," Stark commented. "Thor's upstairs, decimating my kitchen supplies. Loki, who is currently rocking tits, is _sleeping_. And she's fine. But you don't get her today, because I've got an overprotective doctor upstairs with a tendency to go green and mean when people try to wander off with his patients."

Loki managed to stumble to the doorway of her room, her whole body weak as a newborn, and she leaned against the frame to take in the sight of Stark standing against Odin in her main room, Frigga standing small and concerned at her husband's side. It was such an impossible, dangerous standoff that Loki wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh, or cry. "Stark," she rasped, voice like the cracking of ice.

" _Loki_ ," Frigga breathed, surprise and concern warring in her voice as she took in her daughter's weak form.

" _No_ ," Stark snarled, stalking towards her. "You need to be in _bed_ , Smurfette. We've _talked_ about Doc's disappointed face, and I'm not going head-to-head with him because you can't use your common sense." Despite the anger in his voice, Stark was gentle in helping her back to her bed, steadying her when she stumbled without a comment.

Once Loki was back under the covers, Stark brushed a hand against her cheek, uncaring of her Jötun skin and the chill it let off, and said, "Stay in bed, Genie."

"I would see my mother and the Allfather," Loki replied, her voice stronger without the added physical strain of standing on unsteady legs. When Stark's eyes darkened, she added, "You cannot hope to keep them away, Stark. With or without Dr Banner."

Stark's eyes jumped to the doorway, where Frigga and Odin had paused. "Fine," he ground out. "But Loki's staying in bed." He looked back at her pointedly and Loki nodded; she wasn't much inclined to again leave the comfort of her bed, anyway.

Frigga hurried forward as soon as Stark was out of the way and settled on the edge of Loki's bed. "Loki," she whispered, pulling her daughter into a hug. "We were so _worried_."

"I am bedridden, but unharmed," Loki assured her mother, ignoring Odin's stiff form at Frigga's side; most likely, Frigga had learned through Heimdall that Loki had fallen unconscious and insisted the Allfather take her to Midgard and to Loki's side. It wouldn't be the first time Frigga had tried to run out into a battlefield upon learning that Loki or Thor had been wounded.

"Not so unharmed," Odin said, voice heavy with anger as he glanced towards Stark, who glared right back without fear. "The Man of Iron's technology does you harm."

Loki blinked. "The AMF?" she asked, glancing towards Stark.

The human grimaced and looked away. "Yeah. The longer you're near it, the worse it effects you. Because, well–" He waved a hand at Loki. "You're _magic_ , Loki. Like, remember how you fucking glowed? That's all you are, and shutting that off is like throwing a human into a vacuum; no air to breathe."

 _No air, like in the Void,_ Loki recognised and shivered in memory.

"You almost _died_ ," Stark continued and he was looking at her now, regret and fear shining in his eyes. "If Jane hadn't been learning magic from you, hadn't sort of figured out how to channel it into you from studying the Gay Detector, you _would be_."

 _Oh._ Loki felt a shiver of true fear, fear like the Void but so much nearer, so much more recent, because she had been _dying_ , had faced mortality in a way she hadn't even when smirking at Thanos or being thrown around by the Hulk. A simple ball of metal could kill her, and while she trusted Stark with it – _Do I really trust him with my life?_ – she couldn't think of SHIELD having access to the technology, because they would use it no matter the consequences, and _she would be dead_.

Odin and Frigga, too, seemed horrified at this revelation. "I would have this technology destroyed," Odin boomed, fury and fear both in the line of his body, and Loki wondered at the latter; was he afraid for himself? Why fear for Loki? The runt Jötun he had brought home for his collection of relics, put on display in his halls instead of hidden away in his vault.

"It already is," Stark returned, a note of steal in his voice. "The AMF Mark I, all my notes, everything I had on it is gone. And Mark II is locked up, only to be brought out if all the Avengers think it's needed. _All_ of us," he insisted, looking at Loki as if to drive the point home that it wasn't just up to one of the two of them anymore, and that Fury wouldn't get his hands on it to study. Ever.

"And the designs SHIELD has stolen?" Loki asked, because she didn't doubt they had run off with copies of anything they could get their hands on; Stark often complained about how easily Coulson got through his security.

"Phil wiped it, and he's called in a couple favours to get any prototypes and hand-written notes destroyed," Stark promised.

And, yes, Loki could trust her life in the hands of Tony Stark – in the hands of _all_ the Avengers, this family she had become a part of entirely on accident – because monsters protected their own. And, for all she knew that, it would very likely always catch her by surprise when they went out of their way to protect her. (She wondered if they were ever surprised when she protected them.)

"You are certain there are no other copies?" Odin asked, and he was...relieved.

Stark tapped his head. "The basics are in here, sure, and I could probably build another one if I wanted to, but I won't."

"You may not have a choice," Odin intoned.

"Mind-control doesn't affect him," Loki hurried to tell the Allfather, because she was a little afraid that he would deal with the threat of Stark by killing him. "He is safe from most magics, even those he tries to cast himself." And the arc reactor might have kept Stark from learning Loki's science, but it also protected him from other sorcerers in a way that Loki could never have managed herself.

Odin pointed Gungnir at Stark – who tensed – and cast a simple spell of discovery. The black glimmer of his magic disappeared into the arc reactor, hidden under Stark's shirt, and Odin's eye widened in surprise. "I see," he allowed.

The doors to the lift sounded and Thor rushed into the bedroom, Banner, Rogers, and Jane close behind. "Mother, Father," Thor said, looking between them uncertainly. Then his eyes caught on Loki's opened eyes and some tenseness left his shoulders. " _Sister_ ," he breathed, relief in his voice.

"Brother," Loki returned before casting her eyes over the group behind him. "Lady Jane, Dr Banner, Captain."

"It's good to see you awake, Loki," Rogers offered sincerely as Banner pushed past Thor.

"We were worried," Jane agreed, shuffling closer to Thor as she glanced over Odin and Frigga.

"Excuse me, madam, but I need to check on Loki," Banner said to Frigga as he came to a stop next to where she was sitting on the edge of Loki's bed.

"Of course," Frigga agreed and pressed a kiss to Loki's cheek before getting up to follow Odin over to Thor and his girlfriend.

"How do you feel?" Banner asked as he sat in the spot Frigga had vacated and looked Loki over with sharp eyes.

"Shaky, weak," Loki admitted, disinclined to lie to someone who could smash her against the floor and leave her sore for a week after. She glanced down at her hand. "Blue."

Stark let out a shaky laugh from where he'd crept closer to the bed and Banner smiled. "At least we know you've still got your sense of humour," the doctor commented and Loki smirked at him. Banner sighed. "Your magic is low, but JARVIS says it's been regenerating pretty steadily while you've been asleep."

"It will," Loki agreed. "And the more magic I have in reserve, the faster it will regenerate."

"Good to know," Banner decided. "Knowing that, I'd rather you go back to sleep and let your magic keep healing itself until you're back to a safer level. I don't think you're usually awake when you're so low, not from what we saw last time and what Thor's said."

"I'm not, no," Loki agreed. "But I would remain awake while Mother and the Allfather are in the tower."

Banner sighed again. "I knew you were going to say that. Okay, I'll see if they won't leave for the day. If they absolutely _must_ speak to you, they can come back tomorrow, or wait an extra day until I'll let you travel back to Asgard. You're not going tomorrow," he added when Loki opened her mouth to insist otherwise. "I will find a way to strap you to your bed if I have to."

"Ice cream," Stark immediately said and Loki turned to him with suspicion and hope. "Yeah. You stay in bed – or in the tower, at least – all day tomorrow, and you can have as much ice cream as you want."

"I want ice cream when I wake up," Loki bargained.

"Done." Stark held out his hand and Loki managed to catch it to shake before she let her hand drop back into her lap, disgusted with how weak she was. "Right. JARVIS, put in an order for ice cream. Bruce, work your magic to knock Loki out while I take care of the golden pirate and his lady queen."

Loki choked on a giggle while Banner rolled his eyes and pulled a bag from where it had been shoved under Loki's bed. "Okay," the doctor said as Stark met up with the crowd in the doorway and started loudly ordering them around, as if three of them weren't gods capable of crushing him with their littlest finger, "assuming your physiology is _anything_ like Thor's, this should knock you out pretty quickly." He held out two pills.

"I have never noticed drugs having any different an effect on myself than they did Thor," Loki commented as she took them.

"If Odin or Frigga were the ones giving them to you, they could have doctored it so you wouldn't notice," Banner pointed out as he handed over a glass of water. "And even if that wasn't the case, your Jötun body might cause some changes that your Æsir body didn't."

"As you say," Loki agreed and swallowed both pills and water before letting Banner take the cup from shaking fingers. She grimaced at her hand.

Frigga swept back over to the edge of the bed and Banner moved to allow her access to Loki, who was starting to feel the effects of the pills already. "Sleep well, Loki," Frigga murmured as she tucked the blankets more firmly around her daughter. "I will see you again tomorrow."

"Safe travels, Mother," Loki murmured back, letting her eyelids slip closed. She felt Frigga's lips against her forehead and heard Thor's voice in the distance, garbled by the heavy arms of sleep.

-0-

When Loki again awoke, the room was dark but for a flicker of light off to the side, and her magic was at half-strength, well past the safe level that Banner had requested. Glancing over showed her Stark curled up in a chair, a tablet held loosely in one hand and a bottle of something alcoholic – judging by the smell – in the other. He took a long swig of the drink as she watched and set the bottle on the floor, out of sight, then did something on his tablet before again reaching for the bottle.

"You'd best not be getting drunk in my room, Stark," Loki warned and was pleased to find her voice sounding like that of an Æsir, rather than the harsh grating of ice that came from her Jötun form.

Stark jumped. "Holy fu– _Loki_! Jesus. Don't _scare_ me like that."

There was a faint lisp to his words and Loki leaned over to take the bottle, only to find a number gathered next to his chair. She shoved him out of the chair, smiling grimly at his shriek. "I have told you," she said coldly, "that I dislike drunks."

"Unpes– _plea_ sant drunks," Stark insisted, struggling to a seated position on the floor and, wisely, not bothering with the tipped chair. "I'm perfectly pleasant when drunk."

"In truth, Sir, you are morose when drunk," JARVIS corrected helpfully, "and more inclined to reckless behaviour than while sober."

"Traitor," Stark muttered, glowering at his tablet.

"It can be said, however, that you are not an 'unpleasant drunk', in the most common use of the phrase," JARVIS added. "Loki, you appear much better to my sensors."

"I am," Loki agreed, climbing out of bed to collect most of the bottles. "Stark, prove yourself useful and assist me in removing these from my bedroom."

"Uhm..."

"Stark!" Loki shot him an irritated look, only to find him staring at her bum, which had been revealed from under her tunic when she'd leaned down to pick up the bottles. "You are an absolutely _worthless_ excuse for a human," she snarled as she shoved him over with her foot on her way past him, magic ensuring her touch was freezing, to hopefully shock the human back to his senses; it worked on Thor.

The bottles with alcohol were poured down the sink and all of them were rinsed out before being set to one side to recycle. Stark stumbled out with the last of the bottles before Loki had to go and collect them, which saved him a number of bruises and again being shoved to the floor.

"Did you have to pour it out?" Stark complained as he stared at the line-up of clean bottles.

" _Yes_ ," Loki snarled. "I won't put up with drunks in _my_ rooms. You can ask Thor how many times I kicked him out of my rooms in the palace when he was drunk. And where's my ice cream?"

"Brucy would be telling you to eat something healthy before–"

"Stark, I will ice over your testicles."

"Freezer!" Stark shouted, pointing with one hand while the other covered the front of his trousers. Once Loki pulled out and opened the container and was attacking the contents with a spoon, he asked, "You wouldn't _really_ ice–"

Loki flashed him a cruel little smile that everyone in Asgard had long learned to fear. Stark swallowed hard and slunk down next to the counter, as though thinking to hide behind it.

Loki snorted and shoved the lid of her ice cream to the side before hopping up to sit on her worktop. When Stark pointedly looked away from between her legs, Loki rolled her eyes and shifted to his male form. "Better?" he enquired drily.

"You realise you're ridiculously attractive all the time, right?" Stark returned, still looking anywhere but at Loki.

Loki snorted again, because Jötun weren't attractive, but he didn't debate that his Æsir forms were pleasing to the eyes. "Why were you getting drunk in my room at–" Loki glanced towards the microwave clock, "–one in the morning?"

Stark straightened next to the counter and looked a little shifty. "Well–"

"If you lie to me, I will hang you outside my windows as a decoration until the sun has risen," Loki added with a pleasant smile. "And I _will_ know if you lie to me." He took a bite of ice cream, pleased with the disconcertion that flashed across Stark's face.

"You're going to hang me out there, anyway," Stark muttered, just low enough that Loki had to strain to hear him. Then, raising his voice to a normal volume, Stark said, "It was my fault."

Loki stared at him in disbelief for a moment before saying, "It was your– _No_. What part of _my_ demanding you bring out the AMF makes this _your_ fault?"

"I knew it was going to take you out of the fight, I knew you had a bad reaction to it, and instead of dropping it with Clint and getting you the _fuck_ out of there, I stuck around and waited until they had Skurge and Amora tied up before getting you away from it."

"You couldn't _possibly_ have known it would have left me so weak," Loki snapped. He wasn't going to let this _fool_ human take the blame for something beyond either of their control.

"I _should have_ ," Stark insisted. "I had all the fucking data; I knew you're practically made of magic, I knew you basically shut down – Thor told us about you going into a coma for two days after that one battle – when you hit magical exhaustion, I knew the AMF left you shaking and blue the last time. I fucking _knew_." Stark moved forward until he was standing in front of Loki, practically between his legs, eyes dark with anger and a self-hatred that Loki was all too familiar with. "I put the capture of our opponent before the life of my teammate, of _you_. And that– Loki, _we don't do that_. The Avengers have _never_ done that. If we can only catch a villain at the cost of one of us or a civilian, we let the villain go. _Always_."

Loki stared down at the human, ice cream heavy on his tongue. He swallowed with difficulty and said, "I would have seen you dead but weeks ago."

Stark shook his head. "Before we became a team, Clint was shooting arrows at our heads; Hulk almost killed Natasha; he and Thor had a brawl that tore up a third of the helicarrier; Thor, Steve, and I flattened part of a forest; and Steve and I were threatening to kill each other. And let's not even get into our working relationship with SHIELD." Stark smiled bitterly. When Loki only grimaced back, Stark said, "The past is past and you're one of us now. That means roaches in cereal and threatening to push each other out windows on a regular basis–" Loki's lips quirked with a smile and humour flashed in Stark's eyes, "–but it also means that we watch each other's backs, that we put the lives of each other above everything else. Even the lives of civilians, sometimes."

Loki shook his head, smile turned bitter. "I would have you take the enemy before me," he murmured.

Stark's eyes narrowed. "Deal," he said in a falsely pleasant tone, "but only if you promise to do the same thing if it's between me or some baddie."

Loki set his ice cream to the side, sick at the thought. "You would think me so heartless–"

"Stop," Stark snapped and Loki found himself unable to continue, as though the human had cast a spell to steal his voice. "Listen to yourself," Stark whispered. " _It's not one-way_." He let out a helpless sigh as Loki looked away. "How many times do I have to tell you this before you'll actually believe me?" When Loki gave no response, Stark brought a hand up to Loki's cheek and pushed until the god was looking at him again. "Loki, you matter as much as any of us," he whispered and moved to his tiptoes to press his lips to Loki's.

Loki grabbed Stark's chin and deepened the kiss, wrapping his legs under the mortal's arse to help support his weight. "You would do best to heed my brother's warning, Stark," he hissed when the mortal pulled away to catch his breath. "I will break you, as I have broken every lover."

"Makes two of us," Stark returned, eyes burning with dark challenge. The hand not held to Loki's cheek slid against his thigh, brushing against Loki's half-hard cock. "You're a fucking tease."

Loki smirked. "So I am," he agreed before pushing forward, off the worktop, and twisting so he was behind Stark, trapping him between god and worktop. "I do not share, Stark," he breathed against the human's ear.

Stark bucked back against him. " _Tony_ ," he insisted and gasped when Loki worried a patch of skin just below his earlobe. "And I haven't slept with anyone in four months."

"Keep it that way," Loki suggested as he flicked open the human's jeans.

"Got it. Monogamy. I can do – _holyfuckyourhandiscold_ – that." Stark let out a little whine and dropped his head back against Loki's shoulder as Loki stroked him. "JARVIS. Tie. Doorknob."

"Understood, Sir," JARVIS replied.

"That means?" Loki requested.

"Having sex, come back later," Stark explained. "Should have seen Thor's face –" Stark let out a grunt as one of Loki's fingers slid into him, "–when we explained it to him. Awesome. _OhmyGodyou'regonnakillme_ ," he gasped out as Loki pressed against his prostate.

"You talk entirely too much," Loki returned.

"It's a thing. That I do. Really can't – _fuckyesright–againGodagain_ – help it."

Loki captured Stark's mouth with his, swallowing further curses and whimpers as he used his magic to speed up the preparation. His magic was still recovering, yes, but he would have this aggravating mortal _now_ , and damn the consequences.

When Loki finally pressed into Stark – impossibly hot, hotter than anyone else Loki had ever been with and he didn't know if it was just Stark, or because Loki knew what he was now, let his Jötun self rest closer to the surface –, the human pulled away from his mouth to let out a keening sound even as he pressed back against Loki. He struggled to hold himself up against the worktop for a moment, to make up for the difference in height, before Loki wrapped an arm around the human's waist to hold him and hissed, "Hold _still_."

Stark went limp against him – other than the hand braced against the worktop – and left Loki to do the work of fucking up into him while the human turned and breathed a litany of, " _Jesusfuck **harder** Godright–againthereGodyesfuckingChrist_," against Loki's mouth in between messy kisses.

Stark didn't stop mumbling as he neared his climax, instead threading his fingers through Loki's hair and pulling. Loki caught the human's bottom lip between his teeth and bit hard enough to break the skin, and Stark jerked in his grasp, coming over the worktop and dirtying the side of Loki's ice cream container.

Stark was surprisingly quiet as Loki fucked up into him a few more times before coming. When he pulled out and set Stark down so he could reach the ground, the human took most of his own weight, but leaned back against Loki. "We're doing that again, right?" Stark asked.

Loki chuckled. "Oh, yes."

"Hm. Good," Stark decided as he caught Loki's arm and wrapped it around his ribcage. It didn't escape Loki's attention that his arm was kept away from the arc reactor hidden under his two shirts.

"But not until after you've cleaned my kitchen," Loki added, because he could.

Stark let out this odd sort of snort-groan noise and let Loki's arm free. "Yeah, okay," he agreed.

Loki grabbed his ice cream and licked off the spray of cum on the side as he stepped back. He smirked when he caught Stark watching him. "Yes?" he purred.

"Tease," Stark muttered and kicked his trousers and pants off and to the side, rather than pulling them back up. His shirts followed before he hunted down a paper towel to clean the worktop.

"Likewise," Loki returned as the human wiggled his behind more than absolutely necessary while cleaning, uncaring at the line of cum that escaped down his thigh.

It took Loki all of about two seconds after Stark finished his cleaning to decide that fucking the human again sounded more appetising than ice cream. "Bedroom," he ordered and Stark flashed him a smirk as he led the way, Loki only pausing to put his ice cream away.

-0-

Loki woke the third time when Stark – who had curled against his side, a constant warmth – moved away with a whine of, " _Brucy_. Sleeping..."

"Get up, you lazy manwhore," Banner returned – no heat to his words, only a resigned amusement – as he dropped Stark's clothing on his face. He smiled tiredly at Loki while Stark grumbled from under the cloth, and offered, "According to what Frigga and Odin said when they left yesterday, they should be arriving in about an hour. I figured someone should wake you two, and Thor refused when JARVIS said Tony had put a tie on the doorknob."

Stark cackled while Loki's lips curled with amusement at his brother's expense. "Did Cap go red?" Stark asked.

"Steve was down in the gym and not part of the conversation," Banner replied, turning to leave the room. "I'll give you fifteen minutes in the shower before I'm having JARVIS cut off the water. And you both need it."

"Stingy bastard!" Stark called to the doctor's back.

"I learned from Pepper, complain to her," Banner said before he closed the door between them.

Stark rolled his eyes, then turned to Loki with a shit-eating grin. "I'm good for a seven-minute shower fuck if you are."

"I thought you'd never ask," Loki purred and they both moved quickly from the bed to the bathroom.

The shower fuck ended up taking eleven minutes, because they had a debate over the water temperature, but they managed to stumble out before Banner could make good on his threat.

Stark redressed in his clothing from the day before and left Loki for his own floor while the god debated between Asgardian and Midgardian clothing. He ended up picking the Midgardian because it was easier to remove (and maybe he got a mean pleasure out of refusing to dress up for the Allfather).

Out in the main part of Loki's floor, Banner stood to meet him from one of the chairs, eyes sharp. "How are you feeling this morning?"

"I am of an acceptable health in both magic and body that I would find no fault in travelling to Asgard," Loki replied with an easy shrug. "However," he added as Banner frowned, "I understand and appreciate your concerns. And if Mother and the Allfather are already intending to come here, I see no reason to disrupt their plans; their visit is, doubtless, as much to see Thor as it is myself."

Banner sighed. "All right. Get some food and I promise I'll stop hovering."

Loki snorted in disbelief, but followed Banner to the lift and up to the common floor without comment.

Loki had just got started on making breakfast for both himself and Stark – the human would need to eat, too, and Loki was more than capable of making two meals – when he heard Barton let out a loud whistle from where he and most of the other Avengers sat in front of the television and call, "Someone got _laid_."

"Did you want details, my little robin?" Stark replied, voice overly sweet.

" _No_ ," Thor boomed even as Barton called, "Was she any good?"

"He, and yes," Stark said and Thor groaned. "I can give you a play-by-play if you really–"

"Go eat before I put you in time-out," Coulson ordered, amusement in his voice. "Barton, couch."

"Yes, sir," Barton muttered, sounding petulant.

Stark walked into the kitchen, looking ridiculously proud of himself. There was a particularly prominent mark just under his left ear, as well as another couple half-hidden under the collar of his shirts, and Loki smirked to see them. Stark flashed him a smile and leaned against the worktop to the right of Loki. "So, I know Thor doesn't give a fuck, but should I be prepared to run for the hills if Big Daddy puts two and two together?" he asked. Then, before Loki could respond, "You're making me breakfast?"

Loki glanced towards the two plates he'd set out next to the toaster. "Make yourself useful and butter the toast," he ordered as the toaster popped and Stark rolled his eyes as he pushed away from the worktop. "Odin has never shown any interest in my relationships, not even when it was discovered I had children with a Jötun. If anything, he will be pleased that I have an attachment to a mortal, as Thor does." Loki snorted. "Mother may corner you, but she means well. Sigyn, my ex-wife, said Mother's questions were only intended to insure that she would not hurt me. Apparently, I am fragile."

Stark shot him a sharp look. "Yeah. Loki, news flash, you _are_. Well, okay, not, like, 'damsel in distress looking for her knight in shining armour' fragile," Stark hurried to say when Loki turned a glare on him, "but you're not really... Well..."

"I am the monster I was taught to fear and hate," Loki offered drily.

"Yeah. Okay." Stark grimaced and ran his hand through his hair. "That. We're gonna fix that. Because, really, _hi_ , you're Loki. And Loki is awesome. And I am _really_ bad at this stuff. I've said I'm bad at this before, haven't I? Because, yeah, _really_ – Tell me to shut up."

"Shut up, Stark," Loki ordered with a hint of a smile.

" _Tony_ ," Stark insisted and put the butter back in the fridge, having finished with the toast. "We're sleeping together, you're using my name. First name. That's my rule. And this is my–"

"–tower, your rules, yes," Loki finished. "Unless Lady Pepper overrules you."

"Well, okay, yeah. But the tower's twel– no, fifteen percent hers, and she sort of keeps my business running, so I try to listen to her. Also, disappointed looks. Terrifying."

Loki snorted. "Plates."

"What's my name?" Stark returned, a mischievous turn to his smile that was entirely too appealing.

"Tony," Loki purred, smirking as the human's gaze darkened, "bring me the plates."

Stark brought the two plates over and held them as Loki served out the eggs and sausages. "So, kitchen sex? I'm up for round two."

"Oh my God, I did _not_ need to hear that," Barton complained from just outside the kitchen. He poked his head around the edge of the doorway, expression caught somewhere between disgust and amusement. "Didn't anyone ever tell you people to keep body fluids away from where you prepare food?"

"Is that a rule now?" Loki returned with a smile that made Stark laugh and Barton start inching back out of sight. "You may wish to warn Thor."

"Jesus _Christ_ ," Barton complained. "Gathering blackmail material should _not_ be painful."

"Is that what this is?" Stark wondered with a laugh. "Have you _seen_ the photos of the drunken orgy I organised on the steps of the Maclaurin Building?"

Barton poked his head back in the kitchen, grinning. " _That_ was _epic_. Also, you should have seen Cap's face when he saw that article."

Stark's grin widened. "Tell me it's on video somewhere."

" 'Tasha's got it."

"I want it. Tell her. I'll make her something awesome for that video. Like exploding bullets or something."

"Done." Barton vanished from the doorway long enough for Loki and Stark to go about two steps before he reappeared to say, "But, really? The _kitchen_? Even _I_ know better."

"Do you know me?" Stark asked. "No, really, you _do_ realise it's _me_ we're talking about, right?"

"Okay, yeah, you two," Barton said, flicking a finger between Stark and Loki, "I get. But _Thor_?"

Loki snorted. "The Vanir aren't nearly so prude as you humans, and my brother is not unknown to follow with the bad ideas of others."

"Vanir?"

"Cousins of the Æsir, and far more sexually deviant," Loki explained.

"You _really_ need to do research on Norse mythology," Stark added. "Because it's getting embarrassing. Even for you."

"Arrow," Barton threatened, miming drawing a bow at Stark's head, before vanishing back around the doorway. As Loki and Stark sat at the breakfast bar, they heard the archer call, "Hey, Thor, is it true you've had kitchen sex? 'Cause we gotta lay down rules about that, dude."

"Loki!" Thor shouted and Loki cackled over his plate.

"Did he really, though?" Stark wanted to know.

Loki nodded. "Fandral challenged him to have the daughter of a visiting Vanir ambassador in the palace kitchens. Odin was...displeased."

"What about the ambassador?"

"He thought Thor would be a choice husband."

Stark laughed. "That is awesome. Also, I'm holding that to use against him at the best possible moment. You are, like, a _wealth_ of blackmail material on your brother. I am picking your brain."

"And what do _I_ get out of this?" Loki wondered, amused. Not that he _wouldn't_ share embarrassing stories about Thor – he'd already done so with Jane – but Thor would eventually think to share some about Loki in retaliation. And while most of the things Thor would find embarrassing weren't so for Loki, Thor knew more than enough stories that _were_.

"Uh, eternal amusement and the constant sight of Thor going red in the face?"

"I need only kiss you, and I get that from Thor _and_ Captain Rogers," Loki reminded him.

"I think groping is needed to get a red face from Thor, but, yeah. Okay. Uhm... Blackmail on the other Avengers? Something shiny and altogether too cool from my workshop? Lots of sex?"

"Blackmail on _you_ ," Loki suggested.

Stark grimaced. "Uh, can we come back to that one?"

"I could just ask Lady Pepper..."

"Ooh. Below the belt."

"I am disinclined to play fair."

There was a boom that shook the windows of the common and got a shriek from Jane.

Loki glanced towards the ceiling. "He opened the Bifröst here," he deadpanned, unimpressed.

"Is that good, or bad?" Stark asked, shoving his last piece of toast in his mouth and scrambling off his stool.

"We'll see," Loki replied, motioning for their plates to float to the sink.

" _Loki_."

Loki rolled his eyes and brushed past the human to leave the kitchen. "I am more than capable of utilising my magic at the moment."

"Well, yeah, but...heals better while at rest?" Stark insisted as he caught up.

"In this, you will simply have to trust me," Loki suggested as they met the others by the lift doors. Stark looked like he might wish to debate Loki's comment, but Thor stepped forward and draped his arm over Loki's shoulders.

"Brother," the elder god said, irritation in his eyes.

Loki flashed him a smile. "Good morning, Brother. Are you glad to be seeing Mother and the Allfather again so soon?"

Thor held his irritation for only a moment longer before the lift doors opened – showing Rogers to already be within – and he sighed. "Loki, it's a wonder your tricks have not yet seen you dead."

"You _wound_ me, Thor."

"Let us retreat to the gym and then, yes, I will wound you."

"Play nice, boys," Coulson ordered and Barton, Jane, and Stark all smothered laughter. "We don't need you fighting while your parents are in residence."

"What did I miss?" Rogers whispered to Banner.

"You're better off not knowing," Banner whispered back.

"Though, update, Loki and I totally had sex, like, twice last night."

Rogers grimaced. "Great. Thanks for that, Tony."

"And once this morning," Loki helpfully offered and Thor sighed next to him while Rogers covered his eyes and Barton cackled.

Coulson turned to Banner. "I thought you went down to keep them on track."

"I said fifteen minutes in the shower," Banner insisted. "I wasn't going to stand there and watch them to make sure they behaved."

"Kinky," Stark said, waggling his eyebrows. Rogers groaned.

They piled out of the lift and through the door to the roof with Thor and Loki in the lead. "Father! Mother!" Thor boomed as they reached a distance where one could be heard when using a normal level of volume, and Loki rolled his eyes.

Thor and Odin met for one of their ridiculously manly hugs while Loki wrapped his arms around Frigga. "Mother," he murmured against her hair.

Frigga smiled at him and brushed some loose hair behind his ear as she pulled back to look him over. "It's good to see you out of bed, Loki. How are you? Truly."

"Better," Loki admitted.

"Back to his old tricks already," Thor informed their mother drily. Loki flashed him an innocent smile that was nothing but lies and Frigga laughed at them both as she accepted Thor's hug in greeting.

Loki found himself faced with Odin and his smile vanished. "Allfather," he allowed stiffly.

"Loki," Odin returned, tone sombre. "It is well to see you more yourself today."

Loki's mouth twisted with a cruel edge without his permission. "I think you saw me plenty as myself yesterday."

" _Brother_ ," Thor hissed, disapproving.

Odin met Loki's glare without flinching. "You think this form less yourself?"

Loki smiled and spread his hands wide. "What is this but another lie?"

" _Hi_ ," Stark interrupted, suddenly at Loki's side and drawing Odin's attention with his bright smile and loud stance. "Tony Stark. We met last time you popped in."

"I would not soon forget you, Man of Iron," Odin intoned, unamused.

"Likewise," Stark returned with a shit-eating grin that was so obnoxious, Loki was impressed that Odin didn't hit the human. "How about we move family-time inside? Mom and Dad can meet the team, we're not all shouting over the wind, etc, etc, etc. Pepper's bringing cookies. We're golden." He glanced over at Thor. "Thunder, show the folks in, yeah?"

Loki was oddly soothed by the human's chatter, and if Thor's quick nod of agreement after looking between Stark and Loki was anything to go by, it showed. (That, or the elder prince was more inclined to leave Loki's dark mood for his lover to disperse.) "Tony is correct," Thor informed his parents, "humans are not inclined towards raising their voices to be heard; we would do best to retreat to the indoors."

Stark grabbed Loki's arm to keep him from following everyone as Odin and Frigga were shown to the lift. When Loki frowned down at him, Stark asked, "Which form do you prefer?"

"For what reason would you need to know that, St–Tony?"

Stark's lips quirked with a quick grin, an acknowledgement of Loki's slip, before his eyes sharpened again and he asked, "Which form, Loki?"

" _This_ one," Loki snarled. "What fool would wish to look a _Jötun_?"

"Setting the record straight: I _like_ you blue. It's hot. Or cold. Whatever. Also, not so secret: I am ridiculously attracted to anything the colour red. Which–" Stark touched the corner of Loki's eye. "Not to say the green's not amazing, because it _really_ is, but the red is pretty fucking amazing too. _But_ ," he continued when Loki might have interrupted him, "If you'd rather look human – Æsir, whatever – more often, then who's to say that's _not_ who you are?"

"I am Jötun," Loki insisted, though he felt lost for Stark's words; the human _liked_ his Jötun form? And what was this, this insistence that he was as much himself while wearing Æsir skin as he was while a Jötun?

"Humans have a saying," Stark said quietly, one of his thumbs rubbing against the back of Loki's hand in a manner that was oddly soothing, " 'It doesn't matter what you look like on the outside, but how you are inside'. And, yeah, okay, we humans sort of fail at following our own sayings, but the _point_ is, what does it _matter_ what you were born as? If you feel more like an Æs– Wait, no, it's Áss, right? Singular?" Loki nodded. "Cool. If you feel more like an Áss, then you _are_ an Áss."

"Shut up, Tony," Loki muttered before catching the human's lips with a brief kiss. When he pulled back, Stark was grinning, and Loki informed him, "You talk entirely too much."

"Sometimes, what I say even makes sense," Stark agreed and pulled Loki's head down for another kiss. "You good to go inside now? No biting off Sleeping Beauty's head?"

Loki stared at Stark for a moment, disbelieving, before he burst out laughing. "You are going to get _killed_."

"Oh, I'll hide behind you," Stark promised, grinning like the world was perfect.

Loki kissed him again, catching and sucking on his bottom lip until the scab from the night before broke. Stark grabbed at Loki's arms, as though to keep his balance, and moaned as Loki soothed the wound with his tongue.

"You should be illegal," Stark gasped as Loki pulled back, brown irises but slivers against his wide pupils. He closed his eyes and pressed his face to Loki's throat. "Can we skip family time and go back to bed?"

Loki chuckled. "No. Unless you wish for Lady Pepper to track us down?"

Stark groaned and stepped back, running a hand through his hair. "No. Christ, no. Pep would make my life hell. Well, more than she usually does."

"You are fond of her," Loki commented, allowing himself to be led back towards the lift.

Stark glanced over at him, pupils still slightly dilated, but eyes sharp. "Yeah. She's been my assistant for decades. Keeps my company running and everything while I'm out saving the world." Stark shrugged and glanced away, the line of his shoulders uncaring. "And, you know, we dated for two years before she decided she couldn't handle dating Iron Man."

"Hm."

Stark glanced back up at Loki once they were in the lift, old pain in the turn of his smile and mischief bright in his eyes. "Are you _jealous_?"

Loki raised an eyebrow at the human. "What reason have _I_ for so petty an emotion?"

"Uh-huh."

They were hit with a blast of noise when the lift opened to the common. Loki grimaced in distaste, but then he spotted Thor, who was waving a pint of ice cream in his direction, and made a beeline for his brother, Stark laughing at his back. Thor chuckled when Loki snatched the container from him and made quick work of opening it and attacking it with the provided spoon. "Shut up," Loki muttered around his first bite.

Thor sighed. " _Try_ not to fight with Father," he requested. When Loki's only response was to take another mouthful of ice cream, Thor said, " _Loki_."

"I'll try," Loki agreed, looking around and finding Odin with Rogers, both relaxed as the human spoke. Frigga had cornered Jane – Loki _almost_ felt bad for the human – and he wondered how long it would take his mother to figure out Stark to be her next target. _Not long, not after I reopened the cut on his lip._ Loki felt a smirk tug at his mouth and allowed a hint of it to show, if only because it would make someone nervous.

"Tell me you didn't punch him," Thor murmured, looking over at where Stark was snarking with Barton while Romanoff rolled her eyes at both of them.

"I didn't," Loki replied. When Thor frowned at him, Loki sighed. "I _didn't_. Unlike _some_ of us, I don't punch my lovers."

Thor grimaced. "Once."

"She completely deserved it," Loki assured him. "I mean, you _did_ catch her sleeping with _Volstagg_. _Most_ women have more class. Or sense. Both, rea–"

"You and Tony deserve each other," Thor decided with a chuckle.

Loki flashed him a smirk and swallowed another mouthful of ice cream before asking, "What did Odin want? Or has he said yet?"

Thor sighed. "You _can_ call him 'Father'," he pointed out and Loki snorted. "He hasn't said, beyond his concern for you."

"Concern for–" Loki choked and took a moment to swallow his ice cream before glaring at his brother. "You are a poor liar, Brother."

"Then you can tell I speak but the truth," Thor returned, unbothered. Loki scowled and focussed his attention on his ice cream because, yes, Thor had spoken the truth; the truth as he knew it, at least. "Father knew something was wrong when your tracker stopped transmitting," Thor explained and Loki couldn't help but touch the ear cuff he'd worn since he first came to live with the Avengers; a long-forgotten adornment, "and he hurried to ask of Heimdall if it was another false alarm. When he learned of the threat to your life, he gathered Mother and came to see you well."

Loki refused to meet his brother's eyes, torn between an unexpected warmth at Odin's concern and the more familiar burn of anger. " 'Another false alarm'?" he asked instead.

"The first activation of the AMF," Thor clarified. "He _does_ love you, Loki."

"So says you," Loki snarled, glaring up at Thor and only just keeping himself from crushing the ice cream container in his grasp.

"So says Mother," Thor corrected, unmoved, and Loki glanced towards Frigga, who was smiling at Jane and waving the human off before turning towards her sons.

Frigga moved over to join them, smiling. "And what is this?" she asked Loki, eyeing his ice cream.

"Chocolate ice cream," Loki replied with a smile that was only a little forced; Frigga's presence had a way of calming him.

"May I?"

Loki blinked, then held out the container and spoon for his mother to try.

"Holy fuck! The world's _ending_!" Barton shouted, hurrying up and putting a hand to Loki's forehead. "Are you _feeling_ okay?"

Loki grabbed Barton's wrist, smiling when the human pulled uselessly to get free. "I wonder," he said silkily, "what bird we might wish as a pet."

"Parrot!" Stark called. "No, wait, hummingbird!"

"Fuck you, Metal Head," Barton shot back before turning to Loki with wide, pathetic eyes. "I promise not to threaten you with an arrow for a week?"

"Turning you into a bird would have similar pleasures," Loki replied, amused.

"I'll get you another pint of ice cream?"

Loki pretended to consider that for a moment before Thor, chuckling, said, "Loki."

"Not coffee," Loki directed and let Barton go.

As the human escaped for the kitchen, Frigga said, "Loki," with a disapproving look. "Thor told me you'd made friends with the Midgardians."

"I have," Loki insisted.

"Clint is an...unusual case, Mother," Thor tried to explain and Frigga turned an unimpressed look on him.

Barton returned and handed over a pint before hurrying away, another pint clasped in his hands. Loki glanced down and, upon seeing it labelled as coffee – on the actual container, he wouldn't put it past Barton to switch lids – cast two quick spells to transfer the coffee to Stark and take the rocky road that Barton was clutching.

"Thanks, Cupid!" Stark called as he popped his ice cream open.

"Wha– Loki! Bruce, Loki's using magic!"

Banner sighed and rubbed a hand over his face while Pepper and Jane – who were standing with him – laughed.

Coulson stopped Barton with a stare. "Barton, get Loki ice cream. Loki, don't eat the rocky road; I am not putting up with that tantrum. Stark, do _not_ give Loki ideas."

Stark and Loki traded smirks while Barton slunk back to the kitchen.

" 'Unusual case' indeed," Frigga commented, amused.

When Barton returned with a new pint – mint chocolate chip – Loki traded him and said, "It was quite good."

Barton sort of stared at him in horror for a moment before ripping the lid off and relaxing when he found the ice cream untouched. "I hate you a lot," he insisted before fleeing from Loki's return smile.

Odin joined them, then, watching Barton's retreating form with humour glinting in his eye. "Frigga, I would steal Loki and Thor away for business, unless you would spend further time with them now?"

Frigga smiled and shook her head. "There is another Midgardian I would speak with," she announced and kissed Loki's cheek before moving towards Stark; the flash of horror in Stark's eyes made Loki chuckle.

"Perhaps we might retire to somewhere more private?" Odin suggested. "I would keep our realm's troubles from your Midgardian fellows."

Loki and Thor traded looks, both thinking, _Does he think them untrustworthy?_ and _Where would that even **be** in this tower?_

"My floor is private enough," Loki decided with a shrug. When Thor looked uncertain, Loki added, " _I_ do not allow everyone free access," though he knew Thor was truly uncertain about the privacy in Loki's room, given JARVIS' knowledge of anything. But Loki didn't care for the Allfather's attempt to brush off the humans as inconsequential and he wasn't about to disabuse him of the notion that they didn't have ways of knowing everything that went on, whether they were in attendance or not.

"Very well. Lead on," Odin directed and followed the younger two gods to the lift.

On Loki's floor, Odin got straight to the point: "I have heard from Thor of the events surrounding Amora's attack; I would hear your side, Loki."

Loki raised an eyebrow, but gave a concise report of Amora's attack, as he knew Odin would prefer; he was not unfamiliar with giving his statement against criminal actions, and only slightly less familiar with standing by while they were read against him in front of Council and court. When he was done, he asked, "Were Amora and Skurge returned to Asgardian custody?"

"SHIELD had them transported to New Mexico yesterday, before Father and Mother left," Thor replied. "They are ill-equipped to hold Æsir, especially those capable of magic, as you have proved in the past."

Loki thought to point out that he was _technically_ a Jötun, but Stark's words from earlier were still fresh on his thoughts. "Will Thor be required for the trial?" he asked instead, and they all knew he was asking if he would needed to attend as Thor.

"As it was you she came to attack, I believe it best if Loki were the one to attend," Odin replied and Loki gave a sharp nod. "The trial will be held two days hence."

"I will be there," Loki promised. Then, "Were there other matters requiring Thor or my input?"

There were a couple other matters, which Thor and Loki managed with the ease born of centuries of dealing together as princes of Odin's court.

When they returned upstairs, Stark sidled up to Loki's side and muttered, "Your mom is scary-awesome; can I borrow her to scold my Board? Also, setting her against Director Hook?"

"I do not believe Mother will be much use against your Board of Directors–"

"She would make them cry for shame," Stark insisted.

"–but I, too, would enjoy seeing her against Fury," Loki finished and Stark grinned at him.

"So, what did Sleeping Beauty want?" Stark asked after a moment of shared amusement. "Or am I not allowed to know?"

"The Allfather would have you remain ignorant," Loki replied with a shrug. When Stark glanced up at the ceiling, Loki allowed a quick smile. "He is unaware of JARVIS."

"Score," Stark breathed. "Tony Stark, pulling one over on a god. I get a prize for that, right?"

"What prize would you ask?" Loki wondered, amused.

"Workshop sex."

Loki raised an eyebrow at him.

Stark shrugged and glanced away. "What? Pep always refused, and I have a rule to never trust a one night stand in my workshop."

Loki sighed and grabbed Stark's chin so he could meet the human's eyes. "Not with Dummy," he ordered and Stark's expression lit up.

"Main lab? Now?"

Loki had no attachment to seeing his mother and Odin off – he would see them again in two days – so he teleported them down one floor and shoved Stark against the nearest work table. "What was it? Tie on the doorknob?"

"God, _yes_ ," Stark breathed back, scrabbling against Loki's shirt. "Also, JARVIS, glass."

The glass tinted and that was the last thing beyond his human lover that Loki cared about for quite some time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> XD Tony and Loki are, like, all for the sex ALL THE TIME.
> 
> I think there was supposed to be plot to this fic. Maybe. (I can't seem to remember what it was right now, beyond getting these two fucking. Which, totally. Done.  
> Oh, right. Doom. XD)
> 
>  **EXCITING NEWS OF EXCITING:** Alex (AO3) did some fanart for last chapter! *dancing like a loon* The sketches are AWESOME. She's doing some line-work and colouring this week, so I'll wait 'til chapter five for links. *gets fanart; too happy for words*


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been SO GOOD about writing every day out. But they're not really doing anything new for a couple days, so this chapter starts with a bit of a digest of a few days, an adventure in saving the world, and some TONY ANGST. (What the balls, right? XD)  
> Plot next chapter, should be. (I found the damn thing. Would have popped in this chapter, but TONY ANGST got in the way. ^.^")
> 
> Also, I finally got around to watching the _Fantastic Four_ films, so that lot will appear in this chapter. (Mostly because I needed the Human Torch for my evil plans. You'll see.)  
>  Sorry in advance for anyone that doesn't know anything about them/like them? Minor part. Honest. (The Atlanteans get a bigger part; and the individuals among them are made up, fyi.)

Sunday evening, Loki and Stark laughed at Thor's disapproving comments for having missed seeing Odin and Frigga off while Barton made snarky comments about what a 'healthy' sex life entailed and Rogers hid in the gym from all of them. Loki got the 'don't hurt him' line from Pepper, to which he made no promises, and only just kept himself from pointing out that, of the two of them, _she_ was the one who'd most harmed him so far.

Monday was spent practising some magic with Jane and Banner before lunch, then the whole team curling up in front of the television for some films, only broken once by a minor incursion of Doombots, which took them all of two minutes to take out once they all agreed to pull out the AMF Mark II. (The agreement took them six minutes, Rogers arguing about the danger while Loki, Thor, and Stark insisted it would be fine, and Fury yelled at them to 'Just get the fucking job done and go back to your tower of Barney-love, or whatever you fuck-ups do in there'.) Loki and Stark may or may not have ended the day fucking in the office that was technically Fury's on the upper floor of the tower. Just for their own amusement. (And Barton's, once he found out about it. Two hours worth of blank camera footage were in JARVIS' systems by midnight, and Loki and Stark made jokes about whether it was Romanoff or Coulson that Barton had managed to talk into following their example.)

Tuesday morning, Loki left early for his transport to Asgard. The Bifröst site had been moved to over Avengers Tower on Odin's order, so Loki didn't have to teleport to leave, but he did make a comment to the Allfather about leaving it in so populated an area, especially with how often it was used and how noticeable the tower was. It wasn't until he pointed out that their enemies would quickly correlate the Avengers' decreased numbers with the Bifröst's activation and attack en masse while Loki was gone that Odin agreed to return the Bifröst site to New Mexico before Loki's next visit.

Wednesday dawned painfully early to the sound of Fury calling, _"Avengers, assemble."_

"I refuse," Stark muttered against Loki's throat as he curled closer to the god.

_"Stark, so help me, you do **not** –"_

Loki touched a frozen hand to Stark's stomach and he let out a shriek and rolled off the bed with a crash. "He's up," Loki informed Fury and the rest of the tower, earning him a chorus of laughter.

"I hate you all," Stark complained as he climbed to his feet. Then he sort of stared as Loki shifted to female. "Okay, yeah, no, not coming," he announced and hopped back into the bed.

 _"Yes. You are,"_ Rogers insisted.

Loki caught Stark's chin. "Later," she promised before sliding from the bed, her Asgardian garb shimmering into view around her.

"Cock blocker," Stark muttered and moved to put on his protective under-suit

 _"Talk to the bad guys,"_ Banner suggested as Loki teleported up to the common floor to await Coulson.

_"You just don't understand, Brucy. We need to find you a woman so you can understand–"_

_"Would you fucking sex-a-holics shut up and get moving?"_ Fury snarled.

 _"The director needs a lady friend,"_ Barton suggested.

_"I am docking your pay, motherfucker. And if you're not on that quinjet in five minutes, I'm locking you in the cage up here for a week."_

_"Nice going, Abu,"_ Stark offered as the lift door opened and Coulson stepped out to join Loki, a tablet in one hand.

"Both of you, shut up," the agent ordered. "Helicarrier, please," he added to Loki and she quickly teleported them. Coulson was moving as soon as they appeared, long used to the teleportation now, and asking, "Sir, none of this makes any sense. Why call the Avengers in for a rescue op?"

"Thirty minutes ago, a giant wave hit Florida. The Bahamas and Key West are completely submerged and everything along the eastern coast as far north as Fort Pierce is suffering severe flooding. Reports are coming in from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and other islands edging the Caribbean Sea about their own rash of flooding. Rescue attempts are already underway, but no one's managed to figure out the cause of the wave yet, and it looks like another one is coming." Fury turned to Loki, eyes cold and sharp. "I need you to get down there and stop that fucking wave before it hits. Use ice, teleport the water to Antarctica, I don't care, but you _do not_ let it hit land."

"I won't make promises I can't keep, but I will do my best," Loki replied and teleported to the Florida coast. The water was at least chest-deep on her and she grimaced as she pushed away from the pavement, using the buoyancy of the water to help her magic get her in the air. Flying with magic wasn't her preferred method of travel – that had always been more Thor's skill-set than hers – but she could do it when needed. And this time it was needed, as she had to track away from the coast and see how manageable the wave would be.

"Shit," she breathed when she came up on it; the tower of water was at least twice her height and disappeared to either end into the distance.

 _"I don't like the sound of 'shit',"_ Romanoff commented.

 _"How bad are we talking, Emerald Frost?"_ Rogers asked.

"Pretty fucking bad," a voice said from behind Loki and she turned to find a human-shaped fireball behind her. "You are _hot_ , by the way," the fireball added.

 _"Is that Storm?"_ Barton called. _"If it's Storm, tell him he still owes me fifty bucks and I'm taking it out of his flamed ass."_

 _"Hawkeye, keep your gambling habits off the radio,"_ Coulson ordered while the fireball laughed.

"Noted, B-Eye," the fireball – Storm, apparently – replied and Loki realised he must have some sort of headset, though she couldn't begin to imagine how it hadn't burned up.

 _"Focus!"_ Fury snapped at all of them. _"Emerald Frost, Human Torch, what can you two do to stop that wave?"_

Loki considered their options as both she and Storm moved back, away from the quickly-moving wave. "Can you heat it enough to make it evaporate?" she asked the fireball.

"You got it, beautiful."

"Good. Go left, I'll handle the right side."

"And what are _you_ going to do?" Storm asked. "Frost it a bit?" His burning lips turned with a smile.

 _"I will give her permission to frost **you** if you don't fucking **move it** ,"_ Fury snarled.

 _"Also, she's spoken for,"_ Stark added, voice tight, and Loki flashed a cold smile at Storm as she motioned for the Casket of Ancient Winters to appear in her hands.

"Blue. Blue is new," Storm commented, then yelled and hurried away as the wave froze some feet from them and bits of it fell off to shoot at him. _"Going!"_ he called, his voice clear over the comms in spite of the steam hissing at his passing.

Loki sighed and turned the other way, reaching out through the Casket to freeze only enough water to make something of a wall against further waves. She would never have had the time to do the whole length of wave on her own, and she'd have to run another wall along the other way if another wave came in, but their priority was keeping this one back, even if it meant more work later.

She flew past half-submerged islands until the wave subsided into nothing, then motioned the Casket away and teleported back to her starting point. Dark clouds were gathering over the line Storm had taken and she called, "Thor, you need to collect that storm and take it out over the ocean before it opens over land, or all of this will have been for nothing."

 _"I will do so,"_ Thor agreed grimly and the clouds rumbled with the sound of his thunder.

The familiar sound of repulsors had Loki turning to watch as Stark came in for a gentle landing against the thick crust of ice she was standing on. _"Hi. Interesting decorating scheme."_

"You were running a little late, so I thought I'd redecorate without your input."

 _"It's to my tastes,"_ Stark assured her.

 _"Oh, gag me,"_ Barton complained.

 _"Save the kissing for later,"_ Fury ordered, irritation warring with disgust in his voice and Loki smirked. _"Iron Man, Human Torch, get out there and see if you can find what's causing these waves. Emerald Frost, tell me that wall can hold back the next incoming."_

"It should be able to," Loki agreed as Stark took off and flew away from the coast. "I won't be able to complete it until the next wave reaches what I've got, however."

 _"You've got about two minutes,"_ Coulson informed her as Fury turned his attention to the rescue efforts along the coast, assured that the worst of the danger was handled.

Loki took the chance to relax her magic while she waited. When she heard the storm of water, she motioned for the Casket and started along the wave going north, continuing her wall of ice.

She was just finishing when Iron Man let out a curse, then called, _"I don't speak mermaid **or** giant sea snake, so I could use a little help out here!"_

 _"Yeah, you're on your own,"_ Storm commented.

_"Useless fuck."_

"I'm on my way," Loki replied and gathered magic for a blind transport, her heart thrumming uneasily in her chest; Jörmungand was here? Why? And why was he fighting with mermaids?

_"I swear to God, Emerald Frost, if visiting your kid makes him cause natural disasters–"_

"With all due respect, Director: Shut up," Loki snarled back before teleporting. She fell about a foot through empty air before a metal arm caught her around the waist and she was pulled against Stark's metal-covered chest.

_"Not your best landing."_

"Teleporting blindly," Loki informed him as she looked over the ocean beneath them for the creatures he'd reported. "Also, a lack of firm ground."

Stark lowered them closer to the water, saying, _"Excuses, excuses."_

Her eyes sharpened as she finally caught sight of the underwater battle and she snapped, "Jörmungand!"

Her son jerked in surprise, then lifted his head from the water – flinching at the blasts of energy the merfolk were shooting against his scales – and hissed, "Mama! You're okay!"

Loki sighed. "Yes, of course I'm okay," she told him, motioning to form a protective film of magic between Jörmungand and the merfolk.

 _"He was worried about you?"_ Stark realised as he brought them slowly to hover next to the serpent's head. _"Of course. It's been almost a week since you last went for a visit."_

"I'm sorry, Jör," Loki murmured as she brushed a hand against Jörmungand's head. "I didn't mean to worry you, my sweet. I was just...otherwise occupied."

 _"Save us the sordid love story,"_ Fury growled.

"Shut up," Loki and Stark chorused, irritated.

 _"JARVIS, cut the outgoing,"_ Stark added and the earpiece crackled for a moment.

"Mama?" Jörmungand said, uncertain.

_"Don't you **dare** cut me off, you little–"_

_"On that note, cut off incoming too, unless it's important,"_ Stark added tiredly and Fury's voice in Loki's ear fell silent.

"Midgardian technology," Loki told her son soothingly. "Concern yourself not."

Stark's visor opened and Jörmungand jerked back slightly, before he moved his head even closer, staring at the human. "Hi," Stark said. "What the fuck is up with the fish people?"

Jörmungand glanced down at the irritated party, who were still attacking the serpent's neck under the water, either uncaring or not having noticed that his attention had moved on. "I wanted to see Mama," Jörmungand explained, Loki translating for her lover when Stark's brow wrinkled at the hissing, "and I may have played a prank on them some centuries ago, but I meant no harm! I wasn't even anywhere near their city. Yet."

"Yet," Stark repeated, eyes dancing with amusement over his frown. "So you were _going_ to be near their city. Yeah, okay. Underwater cities; weirder things have happened. What was the prank that ticked them off?"

"I moved their city. Three times."

Loki was laughing too hard to translate that for Stark and the human let out a helpless sigh as he let her laugh for a moment before threatening, "I will drop you."

Loki hit his chest plate and waved Jörmungand off when he hissed angrily. "Jör, it's fine. He wouldn't really drop me." She smiled at the human, silently promising retribution if Stark even _considered_ dropping her and his arm tightened around her waist. "Jörmungand moved their city on them."

"I approve of this. For the record," Stark decided. "How far'd you move it? Like, just a couple miles? Or serious distance."

"They were originally to the south," Jörmungand told Loki and she translated again, "near the Little Jötunheim."

"Antarctica," Stark guessed when Loki didn't have another name for the land her son spoke of. "That is an awesome prank. I love it. Can I borrow it? I'll knock out, like, the entirety of SHIELD with sleep gas one day or something and set the auto-pilot to land them in... Actually, yeah. Antarctica. Can we make pretend Jötun? And then they'll wake up and–"

"Fury would have your head – _both_ our heads, truly – when he finally figured out what had happened," Loki pointed out drily while Jörmungand hissed with laughter.

"Totally worth it, though. We can hide behind Steve. Or blame it all on Clint." Stark nodded. "Both, even; hide behind Steve _while_ blaming it on Cli–"

"Shut up, Tony," Loki ordered and the human's mouth snapped shut, grinning madly.

"I like this Midgardian, Mama," Jörmungand informed Loki. "Is he one of the ones you live and do good deeds with?"

"He is," Loki agreed, ignoring Stark's confusion. "Jörmungand, your fight is flooding the mainland."

Her son sort of ducked his head closer to the ocean surface. "Sorry, Mama. I've been trying to explain that I don't mean harm, but they're not listening."

"Okay," Stark said when Loki translated that, "Language barrier? Maybe."

"It is...not outside of the possibilities," Loki allowed before sighing. "Very well. Tony, I will go down and speak to them, you regain contact with Fury and the rest of the team and tell them we are taking care of the disturbance."

"I thought I wasn't allowed to drop you," Stark returned.

Loki gave him a dry look. "You're not. Jörmungand, come here. Mama needs to speak with your friends."

Once Jörmungand was in range, Loki hopped over to her son's head, taking care to avoid any scales showing signs of shedding, as she knew they would be sensitive. Jörmungand obediently moved back down towards the water's surface – waiting until Loki had encased herself in a bubble of air before submerging – while Stark's visor fell closed and he, hopefully, opened communications again.

Underwater, it didn't take long for Jörmungand's attackers to recognise that there was now a human-shaped figure standing calmly on the serpent's head. They stopped their attacks at a motion from one of the men, who then swam forward, eyeing Jörmungand with distrust. He stopped just outside Loki's air bubble and made a series of motions before pointing between Loki and Jörmungand.

"This is Jörmungand, my son," Loki informed him, her magic carrying her voice to the humanoid, who she could now see looked very like a human, though he was blue and had gills to either side of his neck. The man narrowed his eyes, the grip on his staff tightening and Loki asked, "Can you breathe above water? I would speak with you and yours."

The man gave a jerky nod and motioned towards the others beyond him before they all started up to the surface, Jörmungand half a second behind them.

On the surface, Stark was waiting for them with his visor up and expression unamused. "I'll get a chewing out later, and the rest of the team is on their way since the rescue is being handled fine by the military. Thor should be here–" Stark closed his mouth and quirked a tiny smile as the blond god zoomed into sight, coming for a gentle landing on Jörmungand's head after checking to ensure he wouldn't hurt the serpent.

"Nephew," Thor rumbled to Jörmungand while he glared over the gathered blue human-like men who were treading water in front of them.

"We're not here to further a fight, Thor," Loki reminded her brother.

"If you've not come to fight, then why come with this beast at all?" the lead of the blue humans demanded. "You claim a familial attachment to such a–"

"You would do well to watch how you speak of my nephew, little man," Thor snarled, raising Mjölnir.

"Jeeze," Stark cut in before the blue humans could do more than raise the tips of their spears above the surface of the water. "Thunder, deep breath. You, Smurfs, stop attacking the snake – physically _or_ verbally – before we _all_ get fried with lightning, right? Alternately, frozen; Mama Loki makes the North Pole look warm. So, can it."

"Do all surface dwellers have attachment to monstrous–" the lead blue human started.

"And _I_ will blast you out of the water for _that_ word. Really. Didn't your folks ever teach you that if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all? 'Cause even _I_ got that lesson. From a teacher, but still. Seriously. Shut up. No, wait, don't shut up. Or do, but–"

"Tony," Loki cut in, rubbing at the bridge of her nose. His mouth snapped shut over a nervous chuckle. Loki took a breath, then said, "I'm Loki Friggadottir, this is Thor Odinson, my brother; Jörmungand Lokison, my son; and Tony Stark. Tony is of this planet, Thor, Jörmungand, and I are of Asgard, another realm." She glanced towards the quinjet as it came close enough that even Stark could hear it with his limited human hearing. "Tony, I would create a place for them to land."

Stark picked her up and helped her to a clear patch of ocean not far from where the blue humans had drifted together. She motioned for the Casket and used it to freeze over a significant area of water, making it deep enough to hold the weight of the quinjet, ignoring the surprised sounds the blue humans made at her colour change. Once the quinjet had landed and the engines were quiet, Loki, Stark, and Thor joined the rest of the humans on the ice.

Rogers took the lead, holding out a hand of peace to the leader of the blue humans. "Captain Steve Rogers, leader of the Avengers. This is Dr Bruce Banner, and Agents Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff. We're all humans – surface dwellers, you called us? – like Tony. And you are?"

The leader appeared calmed to be speaking to someone so obviously in charge and took Roger's offered hand in a shake. "I am Shamar, First Guard of Atlantis."

"Holy _fuck_ ," Barton breathed as Banner and Stark's eyes both widened.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Shamar," Rogers replied without any sign of the awe the other male humans were showing. "If I may, why were you attacking Jörmungand?"

"It always leaves damage in its wake," Shamar spat, glaring at Jörmungand.

"Damage," Loki repeated, unimpressed. "He said he moved your city a few times as a joke."

"After his visits, things change, yes," Shamar agreed, anger in his beady eyes. "We must learn again our habitat and discover new sources of foods and required materials. We lose those who go out before a move and never return. We lose those who fall to new dangers in exploring new land."

"I'm sorry, Mama. I never meant harm," Jörmungand hissed, head hanging.

"You never do," Thor commented and Jörmungand flinched away from the frown of his uncle. His point made, Thor turned to Shamar, every inch the crown prince. "I apologise for my nephew, Shamar. He was much younger when you had crossed paths; our leaders had separated him from my sister before he was fully grown and it is only now that either of us have again seen him. He has been lonely, and creating humour in whatever place he might find it in his exile. He truly meant no harm. I would ask your forgiveness, on his behalf, for his actions against your people."

Loki admitted to being quite impressed by Thor's words; she knew he could act in a manner befitting of his title, but he had always been more inclined to acting before he thought. _Midgard is good for him._

Shamar, too, seemed thrown by Thor's manner, paddling uncertainly in the water. "I cannot accept your apology on behalf of my people, and I cannot say that my king would accept it, either, not after all the damage done, the lives lost."

 _"How many?"_ Stark asked, his visor closed over his face.

"Excuse me?"

_"How many of your people have been lost or died from Junior's pranks?"_

Shamar looked back over his men and one of them offered, "One hundred seventy-some."

Stark's visor flipped back, showing his flat stare. "Your little spat out here killed sixty thousand humans and wounded over one hundred thousand. Almost two hundred ninety thousand are still unaccounted for."

They were all painfully silent for a long moment as those numbers soaked in.

"Junior was coming to check on his mom because she'd been unavoidably detained from visiting him for five days. He just wanted to drop by New York, freak out the locals, and check how Loki was doing. And _you_ fuckers had to go and start a fight five hundred miles from shore. So, well done. Balloons, confetti, the whole party. You win a kill count."

"We were _defending our home_ ," Shamar snarled.

Stark smiled coldly. "Okay, no, because I know Junior's mom. So I have to ask, have you _ever_ seen him before he moved your city? Were you ever expecting it? 'Cause you said you lost people who'd gone out before it was moved and never made it back."

The Atlanteans were silent.

"Didn't think so."

"Tony," Rogers interrupted before the armoured human could continue, "we get the point." He turned back to Shamar, who stared up at him in challenge. "We don't want a war with your people, Shamar. Jörmungand will swear not to move your city again if you can agree not to attack him in the future when he comes up this way to visit Loki and Thor. Can you at least make that much of a promise on behalf of your people?"

Shamar glared towards Jörmungand, then glanced over the array of humanoids on the floating patch of ice, past Thor's stare, Loki's icy smile, Stark's narrowed eyes, and the other three's silent frowns. He again met Roger's eyes, the challenge in his own eyes gone. "That I can make."

"Jörmungand," Loki ordered.

"I promise to stay away from their city, Mama," Jörmungand replied, nodding.

"And Loki and I will see to it that he keeps that promise," Thor added to the Atlanteans.

Shamar gave a jerky nod, then turned and motioned to his men. They all dove back under the water, swimming away.

"I hope this doesn't come back to bite us in the ass," Banner commented tiredly.

"We have a giant snake who can play hide-and-go-seek with their city," Stark replied drily. "I think we're either gonna be best buds, or agree to ignore each other."

"Either way, it's out of our hands," Rogers declared, rubbing a hand over his mouth. "Jörmungand, are you still going to come up to New York?" he asked the serpent.

Jörmungand looked towards Loki and Thor. "May I?"

"It would be well to show him where we reside," Thor commented.

"And set up a way for him to get in contact with you _without_ scaring any humans," Stark agreed. "I can rig something up today and we can find a place to set it up tonight or something."

"I would like that," Jörmungand agreed.

"If we are no longer needed in Florida?" Loki asked the humans.

"It's all clean-up and rescue, now," Romanoff reported, touching one hand to her ear to show she was listening to her earpiece, and Loki had to wonder how many had been on for that conversation, since hers hadn't. "Coulson says he's going to take a helicopter back to the tower and for Loki and Thor to stay with Jörmungand until he's safely outside New York City and hidden away for whatever's left of the day by then. Everyone else, back to the tower for a debrief."

"Fun, fun," Stark muttered before snapping his visor closed. _"See everyone back at home. Don't stay out too late with your kid, Smurfette, or I might get jealous."_

"Hm. In that case..." Loki returned and Stark laughed before jumping and jetting away from the ice.

"Safe travels," Rogers offered to the three immortals while the humans all climbed into the quinjet.

"Likewise," Thor replied before turning to Loki and Jörmungand. "How shall we do this? I could fly overhead and give directions."

"I know where I'm going, Uncle," Jörmungand insisted. "You and Mama can ride my head under the water. If Mama can hold her spell long enough?"

"I will manage fine," Loki agreed. At Thor's sceptical look, she said, "It is a simple spell, Brother, and one translated to the Midgardian magic so I use none of my own stores. If I reach a point when I need to use my own magic, there is a Jötun variation I can keep up for some hours without danger."

"As you say, then, Sister," Thor agreed and Jörmungand lowered his head for his mother and uncle to climb aboard. Once they were situated, he submerged and they started the trip to New York.

-0-

By the time Loki, Thor, and Jörmungand got to the mouth of the Lower Bay, the sun was low against the western horizon, glinting against the buildings in the distance.

"Pretty," Jörmungand commented as they stopped before entering the Bay, his head raised enough over the small waves that he could speak and be understood by his relatives. "It wasn't like this last time I was up here."

"Humans evolve quickly," Loki commented as she dialled Stark's mobile. Thor was watching over her shoulder, looking hopeful and a little pathetic. "Ask Stark," she told him.

"I thought you were calling him Tony," Thor commented.

Loki grimaced. "I'm trying."

Thor shook his head, amused.

 _"Hello there, Princess. Back in town?"_ Stark cooed as he picked up on his end.

Loki rolled her eyes. "Near enough. Thor and I agree that the Bay might be a little crowded, so we're just outside. Is your device finished?"

_"Yeah, pretty much. Just gotta install it and make sure Junior can activate it fine. Also, I'd like to see if I can't build a program to translate him for the rest of us. So, you know, if you or Thor aren't around, we're not stuck with one-way communication."_

Loki blinked. "That would...Jörmungand would like that, I think."

"What? What? What will I like?"

"Something to translate your speech for the humans," Loki informed him.

Jörmungand hissed happily. "I'd like that," he agreed.

 _"It'll take a bit, and I'm gonna need you or Thor to translate for a bit until JARVIS and I find a pattern to the sounds he makes,"_ Stark added, tone serious in spite of the sound of a smile. _"If he's good with hanging out up here for a bit, I should have it finished inside a week."_

"If you are willing to remain here for the next week, Tony believes he can have something put together," Loki told her son.

"I can!" Jörmungand immediately agreed. Then, quieter, "I might have to leave to hunt, but I can do that when Mama and Uncle Thor and their humans are sleeping."

"You assume we sleep at the same time," Thor replied with a chuckle.

"Tony keeps to my schedule, for the most part, and he's the worst of them," Loki pointed out and Thor snorted, resigned to Loki and Stark's relationship. "He can stay, though he may have to leave in the nights for hunting," she told Stark.

 _"Sure thing, makes sense."_ He paused for a moment and Loki heard a garbled noise coming through the speakers. _"Huh. Clint wants to know if Junior likes pizza. He was gonna order it for dinner, and there's nothing saying we can't eat with your kid. Keep him company. And work on the translation program a bit."_

Loki considered that, running a hand lightly against a shedding scale. "I do not know that I would trust your tomato-based sauce, but I see nothing else on a pizza that Jörmungand couldn't eat."

"What's a 'pizza'?" Jörmungand asked Thor.

"It's delicious," Thor replied.

"Though Barton will need to order many, I should think, to come anywhere near sating Jörmungand's hunger."

Stark laughed. _"Yeah, figured that much. Well, we can order like we've got Snow White and the Three Dwarves in residence, and if he's still hungry after, he can get a hunt in tonight. See what sort of options he's got in the area when he's not starved, yeah?"_

Loki smiled. "That would be appreciated. Do _not_ give Barton my thanks."

Stark laughed again. _"I'll say it's from Thor, then. I should be out there in five minutes or so to install my tech; everyone else should show up with the pizza in half an hour or so."_

"We shall see you shortly, then," Loki returned and hung up. To her son and brother, she explained, "St–Tony will be here shortly to put together his technology for Jörmungand, and the others will arrive with the pizza in half an hour or so."

"They would do well to go to many shops, I should think," Thor commented worriedly.

"They will manage, I must assume," Loki replied. "Jör, you may still have to hunt tonight, but at least you won't do so in a new territory while starved."

"Thank you, Mama," Jörmungand replied happily.

Loki smiled and smoothed healing magic along the shedding scales within her reach.

"Sister," Thor started uncertainly. When Loki raised an eyebrow in query, he fidgeted for a moment before asking, "Might I see your phone?"

"If you break it–" Loki started as she held it out to him.

"Yes, I know. You'll fix it only so you might break it again over my head. I shall endeavour to return it as it currently exists."

Jörmungand hissed laughter and Loki rolled her eyes and returned to soothing her son's scales while Thor frowned in concentration over the mobile.

Stark flew up eventually, again in his suit, with a large, dull silver piece of technology in one hand. _"Hey,"_ he said as he hovered in front of Jörmungand. _"This can go underwater. If you wanna dive down and show me a good place that you can reach it at, I'll install it and show you how to use it, yeah? Sorry, Genie, Thunder. Gonna have to borrow your ride."_

"That's well enough," Thor decided, standing carefully. "Sister, do you require assistance to land?" he asked as he handed her mobile back to her.

 _"I've got comms open if I need a translation,"_ Stark said when she looked to him, and his voice echoed in her ear. _"I need to make sure he can do this without worrying about knocking you guys off. I promise not to hurt him, yeah?"_

Loki sighed and nodded to Thor. "Very well."

As Thor lifted her away from Jörmungand and Stark, the human said through the comms, _"Are you **sure** it was wise to let him at your phone?"_

Loki snorted. "I wasn't about to argue over it."

"What are you two talking about?" Thor asked, sounding hurt.

"Your proclivity for damaging human technology," Loki informed him and Stark chuckled through the comms.

"I'm not _that_ bad!" Thor complained as they settled on a small pier. "Am I?" he asked of Loki.

"You are better than their stories would have me believe," Loki allowed. "But I wasn't here when you first arrived. And your power is that of storms, Brother, which indicates an excess of electricity; Tony's suit might be able to handle it, but most of their technology cannot."

 _"Exactly that,"_ Stark replied. _"Thor, buddy, remember how long it took me to figure out a working headset for you? You'd fry them every time you called up a storm. And you're a **little** better with technology than Steve, morning debates with kitchen appliances notwithstanding."_

"It was not my fault that the toaster exploded," Thor insisted.

Stark snorted. "You put the _wrapper_ , with both pastries, into one slot. Steve and Clint both tried to stop you. Totally your fault."

Loki shook her head and patted Thor's arm when he looked pitiful. "At least you have since learned better," she commented and he smiled a bit sheepishly.

 _"Oh. Oh, wait. I need to tell you about the **three**_ times he blew up the microwave," Stark replied, sounding gleeful. _"It was **epic**. I mean, the first time was as much Steve's fault as Thor's, and there's still some debate about whether or not a fourth time was Thor's fault, or Clint being a little fuck."_

 _"I resent that remark,"_ Barton cut in.

 _"You mean you **resemble** that remark,"_ Romanoff returned drily and Thor and Loki joined the humans in laughing at the two agents. _"We've got an ETA of ten minutes, assuming this next pizza place is as efficient as the first two."_

_"Hear that, Junior? Human food, ten minutes. Your taste buds will explode with joy. **Boom!** "_

_"Mama? Is that a good thing?"_ Loki heard Jörmungand hiss over the comms, as though from a distance.

Loki sighed. "Tony, take care to mind your human phrasings around my son."

 _"Whoops,"_ Stark returned, sounding anything but sorry. _"I didn't mean literally exploding, Junior. Mom says I need to speak like an adult, now."_

 _"You know, I'm not sure you're capable of that,"_ Banner commented and they all laughed again.

_"Ha-ha. Funny. I'm going back to my job. If you skip on my pizza, Robin Hood, I'll have Smurfette hang you outside overnight."_

"We'll build you a nest and everything," Loki agreed cheerfully.

 _"Can we...I dunno, **veto** the two of you spending time together?"_ Barton complained. _"Also, Thor, buddy, you have **got** to give me blackmail on your sister. Like, seriously. Stark's giving her all the good stuff on us."_

Thor glanced at Loki's amused smirk. "I fear Loki may well be providing Tony with blackmail of his own."

_"See. We gotta team up."_

"I can still hear you, Barton," Loki reminded him.

 _"We'll talk later. Go for a walk. Evil plans,"_ Barton told Thor, who nodded seriously while Loki fought the urge to cackle.

 _"You're both pathetic,"_ Romanoff told them.

 _"Hey, Tony's scared of you,"_ Barton insisted, _"You're safe. And Bruce and Jane are in Tony **and** Loki's good books. And no one's got blackmail on Coulson–"_

_"That's because I'm not an idiot."_

_"Yeah, thanks for that,"_ Barton muttered. _"So that leaves Thor and me. And Steve. Cap, join us."_

 _"This is like a terrible, secret boy-band. Are you going to start dating around with each other's girl- and/or boy-friends?"_ Stark asked. _"No, wait, not even dating around. Coulson can do the smart thing and dump you for Cap. And then we can all move past your weird, complicated like I can't even **articulate** –"_

 _"Look who's talking,"_ Barton cut in. _"Your boyfriend likes to play a girl every few days."_

 _"Women who kick ass are all the rage,"_ Stark shot back without missing a beat. _" **And** she looks hot while doing it. Bonus."_

"Are you flirting with me to win an argument with a monkey?" Loki asked and Stark cackled while Barton groaned.

 _"Do I need to institute a rule about discussing relationships and your sex lives over the comms?"_ Coulson asked.

 _" **Yes** ,"_ Thor, Banner, and Rogers all insisted, while Stark and Barton quickly called, _"Nope!"_ Loki decided she didn't care one way or the other, and assumed that Romanoff felt the same way; the reactions were amusing, but more so when she could see their expressions.

 _"Three to two, majority wins,"_ Rogers pointed out. _"And Phil's with us, aren't you Phil?"_

 _"Oh, God. It's the Cap-Eyes. Come on, Coulson. Don't fall for his big blues,"_ Barton complained.

 _"New policy,"_ Coulson declared and Barton and Stark both groaned. _"No discussing your relationships or sex lives over the comms. It's a security breech, as well as distracting to the team. First offence is a slap on the wrist, second offences mean time-out, third offences get turned over to Director Fury for punishment."_

 _"...time-out for how long?"_ Stark asked and Loki saw him and Jörmungand rising from the water in the distance.

 _"At least twenty-four hours,"_ Coulson returned. _"Up to forty-eight hours if you're particularly obnoxious."_

 _"What's **my** time-out?"_ Barton wanted to know.

 _"You don't want to know,"_ Coulson and Romanoff chorused.

 _"Holy fuck. Yeah, I'll be good from now on,"_ Barton promised.

 _"Spoil sports,"_ Stark complained as he came down to stop next to Loki and Thor.

Jörmungand butted Loki with his nose and she smiled and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "Hello again, my sweet," she murmured to him. "Can you use Tony's toy?"

"Yes, Mama. I called your dwelling and some person named Jarvis answered. He couldn't understand me, but he said it's good it works."

"JARVIS is Tony's computer," Loki explained. "And we'll work on helping him understand you."

"Yes. I'd like to be able to speak with Mama's humans," Jörmungand agreed cheerfully. "Maybe I can share stories about Mama with them."

Thor burst out laughing behind Loki and she grimaced. "Why don't we share stories about Uncle Thor, instead?"

"Mama doesn't need any help with that," Jörmungand informed her, mischief in his eyes, "but Uncle Thor will need a lot of help."

"Uncle Thor would _love_ the help," Thor agreed.

"Traitor," Loki muttered and Jörmungand hissed a laugh.

Stark touched Loki's shoulder. _"Hey, Genie, wanna pop back to the tower and let me take off my suit? I can totally eat in it, but it's less fun. And, going with you, we can get back before the pizza."_

Loki glanced up at him. "Very well," she agreed. "I need to be touching skin, though."

 _"I can do skin,"_ Stark said before the visor retracted and he leaned down to press a kiss to her lips. Loki smiled back at the sound of Thor's groan and wrapped the magic to teleport around them.

They appeared on Stark's walkway outside the common and he pulled away long enough to pull his helmet off and hand it to one of the mechanical arms. "JARVIS, outgoing off," he requested and Loki glanced back at him from where she'd been moving down the walkway ahead of him, intent on changing herself. "You're staying female, right?"

Loki cocked an eyebrow at him. "Have I need to?" she asked.

"You promised me later. You can't promise a man later and then not deliver," he insisted as he moved along, his technology removing his suit.

"Hm. Did I?" Loki returned teasingly, hopping back as part of the walkway opened beneath her feet to reveal a boot-catch. "And you're going to trust my word?"

Stark reached out and grabbed for her just before she got out of range and pulled her back for a kiss. "I'll be an absolute misery if you lied to me?" he suggested.

Loki laughed and pulled back, teleporting down to her rooms before he could grab her again.

 _"Please?"_ he asked over the comm.

"I would have something of you," Loki returned as she shifted through her Midgardian clothing, focussing on her female clothing.

_"Uhm... Something of...me? Like, my body? 'Cause, really? Totally yours."_

Loki laughed. "I would have a story of you, Tony."

 _"Blackmail?"_ Stark guessed.

Loki considered that for a moment, then shrugged and pulled out a soft green shirt and some black trousers. "Or a truth. Something I don't know of you."

 _"Such exists?"_ Stark replied drily and Loki laughed. _"You've read through my file at least twice, and I have no idea what you've heard from the others, but I'd bet it's a lot."_

Loki nodded absently. "That is true enough."

Stark sighed. _"I dunno, Loki. You gotta be more specific than asking for just **any** story."_ The lift sounded in the main room and Loki knew the human had stepped off onto her floor by the tred of his shoes against the carpet. _"I'll tell you something utterly embarrassing, if you really want."_

Loki stepped out of her room and cocked an eyebrow at him. He grinned, caught, then looked her up and down with dark eyes. "Looking good," he told her. "Like _always_."

Loki's lips moved without her say into a pleased smile and she prowled forward until she was standing directly in front of him. Then she rested a hand against the hidden glow in his chest and he flinched away, as she'd known he would. "I would have you tell me of this fear," she requested lightly, eyes sharp.

Stark took a heavy breath and pushed back forwards, letting her hand rest against the arc reactor's hum. He shook under her gaze, fear and something old and broken moving behind dark eyes. He rested his own hand over hers, his shaking steadying at the added security against the reactor. He swallowed and managed one of his false smiles that were so like her own. "We should head back before Clint steals all the good pizza."

"Stark," she warned.

Stark's hand tightened against hers when she made to pull it away, smile slipping to show again that old fear. "Tonight," he promised. "Not–" He shook his head and the false smile was back in place. "We should get back."

Loki met his eyes, still too dark with old pain, and nodded. "We should," she agreed quietly and pressed a kiss to his lips. Stark kissed back, desperate, hand clenching against hers over his chest. When Loki pulled back, she turned her hand and laced her fingers with his. Some of the tenseness bled from his shoulders and his false smile came easier. "JARVIS, best to return outgoing," she added to the AI before weaving magic around them and returning them to the pier.

Almost the moment they returned, a limo pulled up and the Avengers, Coulson, Jane, Pepper, and the driver – Hogan – all piled out, each carrying their share of pizza boxes.

"It smells odd," Jörmungand commented and Thor laughed, brushing a hand against his nephew's nose.

Stark flashed Loki his liar's smile and turned to meet the rest of the team with loud greetings that made Barton complain about shouting in his ear.

"Sister, is all well?" Thor asked quietly over the laughter of the humans.

"Well enough," Loki agreed, shaking her head. "Come, let us find those pizzas for Jörmungand before they vanish down Barton's stomach."

Thor grinned. "I would not think him capable of eating so much, but this _is_ pizza."

"My point," Loki returned and they moved together to go through the pizzas.

The group stayed on the pier for almost five hours, laughing and finishing the last of the pizzas. Loki and Thor translated for Jörmungand without having to be asked, and Stark played with a tablet – communicating with JARVIS to try and connect linguistic patterns, he swore – from between Banner and Pepper, across a pile of boxes from where Loki rested comfortably against Jörmungand's head.

A part of Loki was angered by the distance he'd placed between them, while another part – the part that had closed off from her family when her true origins had been revealed – understood why he'd pulled away. And, yet, she wondered if she hadn't pushed too hard, hadn't touched on too deep a wound, and she found comfort in Jörmungand's unquestioning love and the jokes and teasings of this human family.

When they finally packed up, Jane dozing in Thor's arms and Pepper blinking tiredly and stumbling as she stood, caught between Stark and Hogan. The two men traded looks, then Stark stepped back and left his ex-girlfriend for their driver and Hogan nodded his thanks before helping her to the limo.

"I will see you tomorrow, Jör," Loki promised her son as she pressed a kiss to his nose. Thor had already offered his farewells and hastened to the limo with Jane. Loki would have thought herself the last person on the pier – the others having taken piles of boxes back to the limo and started piling in, still laughing over one of Barton's bad jokes – but for the fact that she could smell her lover at her back as she saw her son off.

"Tony, Loki, you two coming?" Rogers called across the pier.

"I think we'll take the more direct route!" Stark called back, one hand catching against Loki's.

"My room, or yours?" she asked. It was always even odds where they ended up at night.

Stark shrugged, hand jostling in her grip. "Yours," he decided. "Happy'll probably drop Pep in her room, and at least if we're in your room, she shouldn't come bursting in, demanding to know who put her to bed and left her shoes in the middle of the floor."

Loki snorted and teleported them to her rooms, the lights slowly brightening around them as JARVIS recognised their arrival. Stark pulled away and set his tablet on a short table that had appeared one afternoon between the chairs – Loki still wasn't sure who to blame that one on, not with how many of her housemates had mysteriously gained unconditional access to her rooms in the past couple weeks – looking out the windows at the city spread out beneath them.

Loki was just thinking she would have to interrupt him – demand blackmail instead of this fear – when he said, "What do you know of Obadiah Stane?"

Loki frowned at Stark's back; she knew the official story about Stane – family friend of the Starks, kept the company moving while Stark finished school and invented on his own, died in a plane crash shortly after Stark's return from Afghanistan – and the classified SHIELD report – built a suit based off the original Iron Man design, almost killed Stark with it, was killed by Pepper overloading the full-size arc reactor built in one of Stark Industries' labs – but there were holes, lies unwritten that Loki had recognised, but been unable to decipher.

"He was a friend of your father's, helped run your company before dying in an attempt to use your design against you," Loki said, keeping her voice steady.

Stark laughed, hollow and tired, and turned to look at her, fingers of his right hand tapping uneasily over the arc reactor's hidden light. "Stolen designs for the suit, yeah. But also my arc reactor. He paralysed me, pulled it out, and left me for dead."

_Oh._

Stark glanced over his shoulder, leaning against the window and still tapping against the arc reactor. "I generally avoid letting anyone touch it, you know. Drove Pep nuts. Drives Brucy a bit nuts too, especially if I'm hurt near it and he's trying to put a bandage or something on–"

Loki pressed her finger to Stark's lips, silencing him from further rambling. They were both quiet but for the quiet 'tap, tap' of the failed possession for a long moment before Stark's fingers stilled. It was only in that silence that Loki finally spoke the idea tumbling in her thoughts, "I might...create a spell. One that would keep another from removing your arc reactor. A security you do not have."

Stark's hand reached up from his chest and caught the finger over his lips, pulling Loki's hand down to rest between their chests, brushing the arc reactor. "Would that even work?" he asked, intelligence in his eyes. "I mean, the reactor sort of sucks in magic, right?"

"I could not say," Loki admitted. "It may work beyond my expectations, because it attaches so to your arc reactor. Or it may do nothing at all, simply add to the magics already powering your magnet. I can only try."

Stark shrugged. "I wouldn't refuse," he said with a broken edge to his smile, "but I'm not sure why–"

"This doesn't go one way, Tony," Loki reminded him and Stark smiled, bright and easier than before. "I would not sit back and watch someone rip your life from you, any more than you would give someone the designs to see me dead." She freed her hand and brushed it against Stark's jaw, thumb tracing the corner of his smile. "I will craft my spell tomorrow; tonight, I have a promise to keep."

Stark's hands attached to her hips. "You do, don't you?" he agreed, an ease to his stance now that they were moving on.

"I do," Loki agreed and nudged the human's chin up to catch his lips with hers.

They didn't quite make it to the bed until later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FANART FROM Alex (AO3)!!! *dancing*  
> [Folder of all the art](http://s682.photobucket.com/user/Shinigami_In_Disguise/library/Fanart/Rough%20Edges%20Art?sort=3&page=1)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Figured I'd be nice and call this out at the top: **THIS CHAPTER ENDS IN A CLIFF-HANGER**. Read the warnings, they should give you an idea about what to expect.  
>  If you can't handle a cliffie, come back next Sunday.

Thursday was spent down at the pier with Jörmungand. Loki leaned against his son's head while Jörmungand dozed in the sun, translated for the Avengers when they came down to talk, or worked with Banner and Jane in learning magic while Jörmungand watched on, intrigued. Throughout the day, however, Loki kept a notebook and pen next to him, jotting down notes for the spells he wanted to weave to protect the arc reactor.

Stark had woken before Loki, unusually, and had been long gone when she'd finally dragged herself out of bed and decided to spend the day as a male. When he'd asked JARVIS, the AI explained that something had come up in California that Stark had gone to see to, and Loki wasn't certain if that was a sign of his lover fleeing from their talk last night, or if something had honestly happened. (It was hard to tell when a computer was the one passing on the message.) Pepper was also gone, so if it was Stark running to the other side of the country, his PA was either in on it, or it was a well-timed distraction.

Whatever the real reason for Stark's absence, Loki used the time without his – admittedly distracting – presence to refine the spell and spend time with Jörmungand, something Loki could _never_ consider a waste of time.

He left Jörmungand as the sun fell behind the horizon, taking Jane and Banner back to the tower in time to settle in for dinner.

When the humans and Thor settled around the television to watch a sports programme, Loki waved them off and turned to the lift, thinking it might be best if he finished his work on the spell and turned in, as he was to return to Asgard the next day. (A reminder that he'd made to the humans at dinner, receiving more than a couple sighs and Barton's loud comments about 'peace and quiet'.)

As Loki stepped into the lift, his thoughts turned to Jörmungand – Thor had agreed to spend much of tomorrow with the serpent – which reminded him of another 'child' that had been denied attention of late. "JARVIS," he said as the lift started past Stark's floor, "hold. I would spend time with Dummy, if it's allowed?"

The lift immediately returned to Stark's floor. "Dummy would appreciate that," JARVIS replied. "And Sir gave you access to his floor, which includes his lab. Usually."

"And by that, you really mean I can get in here whether he wants me to or not," Loki commented, amused, as he pushed into Stark's private lab.

"I said nothing of the sort," JARVIS insisted as Dummy let out a chirp of pleasure and wheeled over to the sink to start making a mug of hot chocolate. "I simply mean that Sir has given you permission to enter this floor as you will and has put no further stipulations on your access of the rooms within it. If he had told me to lock the lab to you, I would have done my best to dissuade you."

"And likely failed miserably."

"You are very like Sir in that way," JARVIS replied, his computerised voice sounding just the slightest dry, and Loki laughed.

Dummy wheeled over with the mug and held it up with an inquisitive sound.

"Thank you, Dummy," Loki said, taking the mug and settling it on the table, next to his notebook. He settled on the stool he'd waved over, then turned to smile at the bot. "I thought to spend time with you, as I fear the addition of my own son to the city stole Tony's attention from you yesterday, and his own matters have stolen him today."

Dummy whirred sadly and bumped his single arm against Loki's knee.

Loki brushed along the foreign feel of metal in much the same way as he'd seen Stark do before and Dummy let out a quiet chirp. "I admit, I am uncertain what Tony does to spend time with you."

"Sir often allows Dummy to assist him in working on projects, or works to repair parts of Dummy's code or pieces of his body," JARVIS answered.

Loki smiled. "There are none of those I might do. I could speak, however," he realised. "Do you care for stories, Dummy?"

Dummy's arm raised slightly, akin to a person looking up hopefully.

Loki chuckled and brushed along the bot's arm again, the motion becoming more familiar as he repeated it. "I would tell you of Jörmungand, my son who has come to visit, I think? And then I might tell him of you, when next I sit with him." Loki's smile turned sad. "I think you are both lonely, in your ways."

Dummy chirped a query and so Loki settled in to tell the bot of Jörmungand's banishment, of his son when he was but a snakelet and the pranks he'd played on everyone, pranks that only Loki and Jörmungand seemed to get any amusement from, though Thor now recalled quite a few with a laugh.

Loki wasn't sure how long he sat with Dummy, telling stories and letting his hot chocolate go cold, before the door of the lab fell open and both Loki and Dummy looked over to watch Stark stumble in, looking exhausted.

"Tony," Loki said neutrally.

Stark's head jerked up and he blinked at Loki a few times. "What the–? Loki. You're–" His eyes tracked down to where Dummy had rested his arm across Loki's lap. "You're visiting Dummy," he realised and smiled.

Loki gently pushed Dummy's arm out of his lap and stood as the bot wheeled away, towards the coffee machine. "No, Dummy," Loki called. "Tony, let's get you to bed."

Stark shook his head and brushed past Loki. "Ideas. Gotta get some work done. Been dealing with idiots all day and I need to get some work done. Can't just keep sitting around, doing noth–"

Loki sighed as he caught the human when his spell knocked him out. "Sleep first," he murmured against Tony's hair before shaking his head. "JARVIS, did Lady Pepper return with Tony?"

"She is remaining in California for another day to make sure nothing further goes wrong," JARVIS replied evenly.

"Very well. I think you can leave the lab door open for the night," Loki decided as he turned to see Stark to bed.

Dummy chirped behind him and Loki glanced back over his shoulder to watch as the bot picked up his cold hot chocolate to pour it out in the sink. Trusting that the bot was capable of knowing his limits when the lab door was left open, Loki continued to Stark's room and stripped the human of all but his boxers before settling him under the covers. Loki was just stripping to join him when Dummy rolled in with a quiet chirp and Loki's notebook.

"Thank you," Loki murmured, taking the object. He glanced his spellwork over, then set it to the side. "Probably best for him to be awake before I cast any magic on him," he added and Dummy whirred an agreement.

As Loki climbed under the covers and settled in next to his lover, Dummy wheeled around the bed and rested his arm next to Stark, acting for all the world like he was going to sleep there, though Loki was pretty sure the bot didn't actually 'sleep' in a manner anything like a living being.

Loki smiled at Dummy and murmured, "JARVIS, lights," then closed his eyes as the room dimmed but for the steady glow of the arc reactor and the tiny prick of red light above Dummy's camera.

-0-

Loki woke to Stark muttering, "Dummy? How are you...? Hi. Morning. I love you too, you stupid piece of scrap metal. How'd you get out of the lab?"

"I let him out," Loki offered, rubbing a hand over his eyes to clean out grit from sleep.

Stark was oddly quiet and Loki glanced over to find his lover staring at him, looking mildly betrayed. "You magic'd me. Again," he accused.

"You needed the sleep," Loki insisted. And then, because it wasn't _completely_ untrue, he added, "And I would sleep better knowing you were in here, rather than working all night."

The irritation bled from Stark's eyes and he sighed and shifted closer to Loki. "Manipulator," he muttered before pressing a kiss to Loki's lips.

Loki hummed an agreement as he kissed back, opening his mouth to the human and pulling Stark over so he could buck up against him.

"Dummy's in here," Stark managed to get out as he broke free to catch his breath. Because they'd both sort of agreed that having sex with either of their 'children' in the room would be awkward.

"Going back to Asgard for the day," Loki returned.

"Oh, Christ. Fuck Asgard," Stark complained and Loki chuckled before tilting his head and nipping at the underside of the human's jaw. Stark groaned and ground his pelvis against Loki's, then ordered, "Dummy. Out," in a strangled voice.

Dummy let out a pitiful whine as he wheeled out.

"Good boy!" Stark called after the bot and Loki snorted against his throat. "Shut up," Stark added to Loki and distracted the god with a hand down his briefs.

Dummy was waiting for them when they finished in the bedroom, carrying two mugs and looking inexplicably hopeful, for a robot with no face.

"You spoiled him," Stark accused Loki as he handed over the hot chocolate and took a sip of his coffee. "Best boy," he added to Dummy, who chirped happily and rubbed against Stark before wheeling over to rub against Loki.

"I take partial fault for distracting you from him," Loki replied as he smoothed over the bot's arm.

Stark shook his head, amused. "Only partial?" he asked and Loki flashed him a smirk from behind his mug. Stark nodded at the notebook Loki held in one hand. "Paper? Really?"

"It is comfortable to me. And less likely to be damaged while I sat with Jörmungand."

"I water-proof tablets before I let them out of my lab," Stark replied. "And paper is just as easy to destroy as computers."

"Not with my spells," Loki returned.

Stark rolled his eyes. "Oh, yeah. Whatever. Okay, so what were you working on that required old fashioned paper? Or am I not allowed to know? Is it a present?"

"After a fashion," Loki agreed, enjoying dangling his secret in front of his lover.

"Ooh. Present for Junior?" Stark guessed. "Or Thor, maybe?"

"Neither."

Stark widened his eyes comically. "Tell me it's something mean to spring on Clint."

"Such spells require little planning," Loki replied with a smirk; pranks _were_ his speciality.

Stark laughed. "Roaches, I remember. So, is it for _me_?"

"It is," Loki agreed, still smiling, though there was less humour to his voice than there had been. Stark _had_ left for the entire day, and he was still uncertain as to whether he'd done so more to get away or because he was truly required.

"Ooh." Stark grinned and tilted his mug to drink, then paused, recognition blooming in his eyes. He lowered his mug and touched his free hand to the hidden arc reactor. "This. You said you'd create a spell to protect it."

"So I did," Loki agreed neutrally, sipping from his hot chocolate.

Dummy let out a quiet whine and wheeled over to Stark's side, bumping his claw against the hand over the arc reactor.

Stark ran his hand over Dummy's arm, unbothered by his claw touching the reactor. "It's okay, buddy," he murmured and Dummy whined again. To Loki, Stark explained, "Dummy found me. After Obie left."

Loki nodded, understanding a bit more the bond between Stark and Dummy. "Dummy," he said to the bot, "I would see Tony safe, his arc reactor never again removed against his will."

Dummy let out a chirp, sounding almost like approval, and moved his claw from the arc reactor. He remained, however, at Stark's side.

Stark smiled at his bot, then nodded towards the notebook. "So, your spell, does it allow _me_ to remove my own arc reactor? 'Cause sometimes, you know, I have to make repairs on it and stuff."

"Though you have no replacements," Loki returned.

Stark shrugged. "If I can make my repairs in under five minutes, I'm more than safe. And I've got a couple older models that I can use, so long as I keep them in for no more than three days. But, yeah, don't need anyone getting the design for this one." He tapped the arc reactor. "Too much power."

As much as it bothered him that Stark had no equal replacements, he was familiar with the need to keep objects with power away from the interested; it was why he kept the Casket and his magical staffs in his magical space, where only he could recall them. "Should this spell work, it would enable you to do as you would with your arc reactor. The spell should also allow one of the Avengers or the Ladies Pepper and Jane to remove the arc reactor, should it no longer have power, so a replacement might be switched in. Beyond that, no one else should be able to even touch it."

"Not even you?" Stark asked, eyes sharp.

Loki shook his head. "I made no allowances for myself, but as it is my magic, I might well be able to work past the spell." He met Stark's eyes and stated with all honesty, "I wouldn't."

Stark smiled and stepped forward to brush his fingers against Loki's jaw, Dummy moving quietly at his side. "As odd as it might seem, I trust you."

Loki snorted. "Less odd, more insane."

"I'm not renowned for my sanity," Stark returned and pulled up his shirt, baring the arc reactor. "Go for it. Can't know if it'll work until you've tried, right?"

Loki flashed him a quick smile and held out his mug. "Dummy, if you'd please hold that?" he requested and the bot took it from him. "Thank you." Loki glanced quickly through his notes, then banished the notebook to a magical space, intending to destroy everything in Asgard, so there would be no chance of anyone reverse-engineering his spellwork. (He could have destroyed it in Midgard, but the distance between the realms was an added security, and he was more familiar with ways to destroy research notes in Asgard.)

The spells were not difficult, but Loki was uncertain how the arc reactor would react to them, considering how it sucked up other magic. Except sleep spells, Loki had realised, or teleportation magic, which affected Stark as though he were an average human. Loki wondered if the arc reactor allowed that magic which Stark, himself, would have allowed on some level, although that still left the question of why the human was blocked from using magic.

The arc reactor's glow brightened as the spells sunk into it and Stark made an odd face before commenting, "Coconut. Again."

Loki raised an eyebrow at him as he held out a hand for his mug, which Dummy handed back over. "Coconut."

Stark touched a hand to the arc reactor and flashed Loki a grin. "Yeah. That's what this element tastes like."

Loki shook his head. "And you were complaining of my describing _magic_ with taste."

Stark laughed. "Yeah, shut up. So, are we testing it?"

Loki considered that for a moment, then held out his hand towards the arc reactor. He touched the panel next to Stark's fingers without issue and sighed. "It seems it didn't work."

"Well, it was a nice thought," Stark replied and moved his hand to pull his shirt back down.

As soon as Stark's hand had moved away, Loki's fingers burned and he pulled his hand away with a hiss of pain.

"Loki!" Stark grabbed for Loki's hand, his mug of coffee falling to the floor, and watched with some disbelief as the bright red burns faded away under the direction of Loki's magic. "You okay?" he whispered, pressing a kiss to Loki's fingers.

"I will live," Loki returned drily and Stark smiled. "I believe it _does_ work."

It took Stark a moment before his mind caught up with Loki's words, then he looked between Loki's hand – still held between his – and where the arc reactor laid under his shirt. "Jesus, yeah. But, burning?" He frowned up at Loki. "I don't want to see you hurt to protect me, Loki."

"The idea is to keep people from touching the arc reactor," Loki reminded him. "I had envisioned something of a magical shield, but a spell of fire would hold myself at bay far better. The arc reactor has a mind of its own, and it will bend this spell as it sees fit." He shook his head. "I will heal from burns, you will not heal should someone remove your arc reactor; this outcome suits me."

"Well it doesn't suit _me_ ," Stark muttered, taking his hands from Loki's so he could poke at his own chest. "Hear me? No more burning Frosty. I am not cutting back on fantastic sex because you're repurposing spells. No. Not happening."

Loki snorted and stepped around the human. "I should like some breakfast before I leave."

Stark stooped and picked up the fallen mug, leaving the coffee for Dummy to clean up with the rag he'd found in the bathroom. "Good boy," he murmured to his bot, who chirped happily, then hurried to follow Loki. "I still say fuck Asgard. You were _just there_."

"I agreed to return every six days, not counting those days where I must return for other matters. That I missed my last trip makes it all the more important for me to attend today."

Stark sighed and turned them to the lab long enough to set their mugs inside, then hit the button for the lift. "I hate duties."

"Noted."

"Also, try not to bring back anyone this time?"

Loki snorted. "It would be to my preference, as well, were the Warriors Three and Lady Sif to remain on their end of the Bifröst."

"I think even _Thor_ was sick of them by the time they left."

"Entirely possible," Loki allowed, remembering fondly how Thor had stood up for Loki against his friends.

Jane and Romanoff were in the kitchen together when Loki and Stark arrived. "Did you have need to return to New Mexico today?" Loki asked the female scientist.

Jane shook her head. "Nah. Natasha and I had plans today, and I've got most of what I needed from the Bifröst, anyway, thanks to the Gay Detector." Romanoff snorted and Jane grinned at her.

"Best name for it ever. Like, seriously. Awesome," Stark insisted as he poured himself some cereal.

"Pepper does have a point about your inability to be PC," Romanoff returned. Before Stark could complain, she added, "And, yes, I know. Clint is worse than you. Slightly."

"That's up for debate," Loki commented and Stark grinned at him while the two women rolled their eyes. "I take it my brother is not yet up?" he asked of Jane.

"Not when I left, but he asked JARVIS to wake him when you left, so he should be up pretty soon," Jane replied. "We'll drop by and spend some time with Jörmungand today, and I know Bruce was going to go out there with Steve for a couple hours after lunch."

"Assuming there aren't any attempts at villainy today," Stark added.

"Fingers crossed," Jane said, doing so. "Even if there is an attack, though, we can still drop in and see him."

Stark nodded. "True enough. I'll probably head down there, myself. Get some more work on the translation done. When are you two leaving for your girl's day out?"

"Shortly," Romanoff returned. "We can wait for you, if you'll hurry."

"Cool. I'll have to stop and grab the briefcase suit and my tablet, but I'd appreciate it." Stark flashed Loki a smile. "Any messages for Junior?"

"Tell him of Dummy," Loki suggested. "I told Dummy of Jörmungand and promised to return the favour."

"That is, like, kind of sickeningly adorable," Stark decided. "Can we win the award for the most awesome parents ever?"

"Weirdest, maybe," Barton said as he stepped into the kitchen. "Also, I want pictures of any play dates between those two."

"Maybe not," Loki decided and Stark laughed while the women smiled. "I will endeavour to return in time to assist with dinner," he added to Jane as he stood, waving his empty bowl towards the sink.

"I'd appreciate it," Jane agreed. "Have fun."

"Prank a bunch of the stuck-up idiots and bring back pictures," Stark insisted.

" _Lots_ of pictures," Barton added. "Turn them all pink. Or make them wear dresses or something."

"You have no imagination," Loki informed the archer, much to the other three's amusement, then teleported to the Bifröst site, transforming into Thor en route.

Heimdall was the same as ever when Loki arrived, nodding to Loki without any sign of emotion. Hogun awaited him with the horses and they greeted each other amicably enough before turning for the city.

Loki's morning was spent dealing with the duties of a prince, while lunch was spent seated with the Warriors Three and Sif. They remained tense with each other, but there was an easing in their interactions that hadn't existed before their visit to Earth, a bit of the old familiarity and friendships that had been lost to Loki's betrayal. And Loki appreciated it, even as he left behind pranks that would have them none-too-friendly when he returned again in six days.

Loki spent the afternoon with his mother. She again took him out to visit with Sleipnir and Loki remembered his mobile and took pictures of his eldest with it, thinking Jörmungand and Stark would both appreciate it. (And Thor might enjoy having pictures of his nephews, really, as Loki might like his own collection of his children next to the one of him and Thor as children.)

With his mobile heavy against his chest, Loki stopped by Odin's office before leaving to return to Earth. "Allfather," he said in a neutral voice.

Odin glanced up at the disguised prince. "You have a question?"

Loki glanced around the room before stepping fully in, assured that the king was alone. "I would receive permission to visit Niflhel."

Odin raised an eyebrow at that. "For what purpose?"

Loki smiled. "Have I not family there I might wish to pay visit to?" he replied.

Odin sighed. "Loki, I'll have none of your games."

Loki closed his eyes, silently praying for patience, then returned, "And I've no need to play them. I would visit with Hela, as I have visited with Sleipnir today."

"As you have visited with Jörmungand, I've little doubt."

Loki shrugged. "You would have me leave him lonely while residing in the same realm? Thor, too, made speak with him."

"I'm certain that went well."

"Surprisingly," Loki said, though he knew he'd no need to speak. "They converse still."

Odin eyed Loki for a moment and the prince smiled back at him, the picture of innocence. "And would you demand to see Fenrir next?" Odin finally asked.

Loki tensed. "What use, when you would, as ever, deny me my right?"

Odin met Loki's false blue eyes with his steady stare until the younger finally looked away, jaw clenching with an anger that was all the more obvious on Thor's form. "I will give you passage to visit Hela," the Allfather agreed at last. "Pass on my greetings."

"Perhaps," Loki replied as he turned to leave, a last snub to mark his displeasure. When Odin gave no response beyond the sigh of a father resigned to his son's rebellion, Loki counted himself the victor.

The Bifröst didn't travel to Niflhel, but Loki travelled out to Heimdall anyway, both to keep up appearances, and to let the guardian know he would be travelling by alternate means. Heimdall was unsurprised and Loki left after dispersing his stolen form.

Hela awaited him at the gates when he stepped through the mists to them. His youngest was half lovely, half terrifying, and it had broken Loki's marriage to Hela's mother; Sigyn had been unable to love so terrible a daughter and so had fled, but Loki had birthed a horse, loved both a wolf and snake as sons, and could see little wrong with his only daughter. He had raised Hela with all the care he'd been too young to have for his sons, rebuking those who would turn her appearance against her and protecting her in a way that he'd been unable to do for Jörmungand or Fenrir when the Council would have seen her banished for minor crimes. It had been her wish to serve in Niflhel, and one that Loki had fully supported and seen to that she received.

"Father," Hela murmured as Loki drew her into a hug.

"Hela, it is always a treat to see you," Loki replied, freeing a lock of long hair from where it had been caught in the kinks of her neck.

"Yet, rarely without need," Hela returned, well-used to her father's play with words. "What brings you to my realm?"

Loki shook his head. "I have been visiting with Jörmungand and had wish to see others of my children. Odin gave me leave to visit with you on my return to Midgard, and so here I am."

The skin of Hela's mouth turned down in a lopsided frown. "Father, what has transpired?" she requested, spotting easily the unspoken story in Loki's words.

"Much," Loki admitted. "Might I sit with you a while and catch you up?"

"I would appreciate it," Hela agreed, "though I get the sense I will not enjoy it."

"There has been precious little joy for much of the past years," Loki admitted. "Though it has been well these recent weeks."

Hela smiled in her awkward way. "Then I might stay for the entirety," she teased and Loki laughed.

Loki told her everything but the horrors of the Void – he didn't believe any of his children were owed that waking nightmare – and she remained silent for the whole of it, assimilating everything in much the same way as Loki would while in a more studious mood.

When Loki finished, she nodded and commented, "It makes sense. That you are Jötun." She waved her skeleton hand, the deformity that had always set her apart from her peers. "That I am half."

"It does," Loki agreed.

"Grandfather should not have lied," Hela added.

"Odin does many things he should not," Loki replied bitterly.

Hela shrugged. "It is the will of parenthood."

Loki shot her a sharp look. "You think I–"

"No, Father," Hela hurried to assure him. "You have always done your best by me, by _all_ of us, I know. But I have long sat with the dead, and I see all too often that parents bring pain to their children by doing what they believed to be right at that moment. And Grandfather, for all his strengths, is still as capable as any other father of making poor choices. I do not forgive him that, but I can understand it, I think." She met Loki's scowl with the same even stare that Odin would often use when someone was being difficult. "As would you, were you inclined to look past your own anger."

Loki sniffed and looked away. "Allow me my anger, darling."

Hela shrugged. "I would never think to deny you anything, Father," she replied and the serious tone was vanished. "But you have found a Midgardian to amuse yourself with; that's well. You're always happier when you have a distraction, be it a long play or a lover."

Loki flashed her an amused look. "Most children are disturbed to think of their parent with another," he pointed out.

"Most children were not sired – or borne, in Sleipnir's case – by you. And most children, also, did not regularly walk in on you," Hela added drily and Loki laughed, because his youngest _had_ often enough walked in to find Loki in compromising positions with varied Æsir, both as a woman and a man. Hela, more than Loki's other children, was cured of any embarrassment at Loki's habit to blackmail his peers with sex.

"True enough," Loki allowed. "Am I happier, then?"

Hela considered him for a moment, then nodded. "Yes. It was a good time to find him, seeped in anger and followed by darkness as you are. I feel less worry for you, knowing of this Midgardian. And Uncle Thor, I think."

"Darkness?" Loki repeated, caught off-guard by the comment.

Hela motioned to an aura only she could see. "It has the shape of madness, though it is of darkness. It surrounds you. It...frightens me," she finished in a whisper.

Loki swallowed against a block in his throat. "I am familiar with this darkness, I think," he allowed, remembering well the Void and its effect on him when his magic was stolen. "I had not meant you to know of it," he added, regretful.

Hela shook her head. "What is it?"

Loki sighed. "It is of the Void, and that is all I would speak of it. Please, Hela."

Hela looked away. "How is Jör?" she asked, tangling her hands together and causing her skeleton fingers to click against the glimmer of rings and bracelets on her normal side; pieces of beauty that were the only gifts her mother had ever bestowed upon her.

Loki reached forward and took her hands in his, bringing both to his lips for a gentle kiss. "He is well," he told her. "He enjoys his pranks on humans and saves those he can; he does a much better job than I at making up for his tainted blood."

Hela sighed and leaned forward to rest her forehead against Loki's, still bent forward as he was over her hands. "Have you ever loved Jör or Fen-Fen less for being born of a Jötun?" she asked.

"No."

"Then why think so much less of yourself?"

Loki shook his head. "I know of what I am capable, Hela, of what I can and _will_ do, should the opportunity present itself. I think less of myself not just because I am of Jötun stock, but also because I _know_ myself to be a monster."

"I don't think you a monster, Father," Hela insisted, regret in her eyes.

Loki flashed her a smile. "I should hope not, lest I worry for my parenting skills."

Hela allowed her awkward smile to show, though there remained sadness in her eyes. "I love you, Father. We all do."

"I know," Loki murmured, brushing a hand against her bone cheek and letting his smile soften and fill with love. "And I love all of you; I always will." He kissed her forehead, right along the line where the skin fell away to bone.

They remained in silence for some long moments before Loki recalled one of his original intentions for visiting and pulled back enough to bring his mobile from the fold of cloth he'd secured it in over his heart. "Tony gave me this mobile telephone, which has a camera. I would take a picture of you, to keep in my rooms on Earth and, I think, in the palace."

Hela's eyes brightened over her awkward smile. "Just be sure to get my best side," she informed him.

Loki laughed. "You have one that's better than the other?" he returned, an old joke that recalled Hela's childhood, when she would come home in tears from the teasings of other children for her unusual appearance. No matter who had greeted her tears – be it Loki, Thor, Odin, or Frigga – they would always make certain to insist that the other children were only jealous that they didn't look so lovely. (And, remembering that, Loki found himself torn between his hatred at Odin for his secrets, and gratitude and fondness that his not-father had never allowed Hela to feel anything but loved, had never allowed anyone to speak poorly of her in his presence. Odin may have failed Loki in so many ways, may have let Jörmungand and Fenrir face lonely banishments, but he'd truly tried with Hela and would always protect Sleipnir.)

Loki took a number of pictures, then sat down with Hela for a good ten minutes while she decided which picture of herself was the best, then looked through the pictures he'd taken of Sleipnir, Frigga, and Asgard. "Are you going to take some of Jör?" she wanted to know.

"I intend to," Loki agreed.

"And your Midgardian friends?"

"The most embarrassing ones I can," Loki promised.

Hela laughed. "I should like to see those."

"I will come again when I visit Asgard."

Hela rested her head on Loki's shoulder, relaxing when he wrapped an arm around her. "I have missed you, Father."

"As I have missed you," Loki replied as he slipped his mobile away. "I should return to Midgard," he added regretfully. "I had promised to assist Lady Jane with dinner, since Thor is useless."

Hela laughed and pulled away to stand. "Best to go quickly, then, before Uncle Thor thinks to help in your absence."

"Lady Jane may never forgive me," Loki said with some concern and Hela laughed again. Loki smiled and kissed her forehead, then both cheeks. "I will see you again in six days," he promised.

"I look forward to it," Hela replied and saw him to the gates of her realm.

Loki wrapped his magic around him and rode the branches of Yggdrasil back to Earth, coming out in a cave and teleporting to Avengers Tower. He was smiling as he stepped through the glass doors from the balcony, but it fell when he realised he was alone in the common area, when there should have been someone in the kitchen, at least. "JARVIS?"

"Helicarrier," JARVIS was quick to answer, and there was fear in his mechanical voice. "Sir has been kidnapped."

Ice enclosed Loki's heart and froze through his veins even as he wrapped his magic around him to teleport to the helicarrier. He arrived to find the Avengers, Fury, and Coulson around a conference table at the back of the bridge, none of them sitting and the lines of their shoulders tense under their uniforms, which were spotted with blood. "What happened?" Loki demanded as he stalked up, his Jötun voice grating in the sudden stillness that had followed his appearance.

Guns cocked around the room and Coulson snapped, "Guns _down_."

"Brother–" Thor started, moving like he might move to intercept Loki, but the younger god shot him a glare full of ice.

"What. Happened," Loki repeated.

"From what we can figure out," Romanoff cut in with a cold efficiency that suited Loki at the moment, "Doom, Mandarin, and a couple other small fries made some sort of pact; they attacked all at once and kept us distracted and apart. No one realised Stark was missing until they all made a retreat."

"JARVIS hasn't been able to trace the suit," Banner added, the tone of his voice saying he was holding on to his human form by sheer willpower. "Every piece of tech we have to trace Tony has gone off-line, and no one can even say _which_ of the villains has him, though it's almost certainly Mandarin, given their history."

"Can you find him?" Barton asked and everyone looked from him to Loki's blue form. "Some sort of spell?"

Loki closed his eyes and flipped through his mental spellbook for a scrying spell that would let him locate a human. "I can try," he agreed, calmer with a path before him.

The first spell didn't work, fizzled out over the table's top, and Loki frowned in thought as Barton groaned.

"The arc reactor," Banner murmured, glancing up at Loki. "You said magic doesn't always work because of it."

Loki nodded. "I do not think it would block this, but it may. That it doesn't work it a good sign; it means he is alive and the arc reactor is in one piece," he said as he wove another spell. When it, too, fizzled, Loki focussed his magic on finding Stark's armour, figuring anyone smart would have removed that from its power source in Stark's chest as soon as they had him.

An image of a pile of red and gold scraps appeared over the top of the table. Other bits and pieces of metal lay nearby, as well as some other, less shiny piles of rubbish.

"Can you figure out, where, exactly, this is?" Fury demanded as the hopeless air vanished from around the table and the Avengers all straightened.

Loki manipulated the spell to give them an aerial view of the compound where the suit had been tossed. When it started to go fuzzy at the edges, he stopped pulling back on the spell and shook his head. "Any further from the origination and I lose the image."

"Can you teleport with that much?" Rogers asked.

"I could teleport with the original image," Loki replied.

Rogers nodded and looked around the table. "Natasha, go with Loki and see what you two can figure out about this place. Set trackers for us to find you and we'll follow you directly. If you two can find and get Tony out before we arrive, do it."

"But we're still going in," Barton said, eyes narrowed and determined.

"They made this personal," Rogers replied. "We're still going in."

"Female on the field," Coulson reminded Loki as the god ended his scrying spell and Romanoff turned to collect the trackers she would need to place.

Loki gave a jerky nod and focussed on becoming both female, and losing the Jötun-blue. Her armour shifted with her and Loki twitched the colours with barely a thought, making her clothing more green than black, and losing the cape she'd still been wearing from her journey from Asgard.

Romanoff returned with a cloth folder and two earpieces which looked vaguely different from the ones the Avengers usually used. "SHIELD issue for reconnaissance," she told Loki as she handed one over. "They come in pairs and keep switching between frequencies, so we can communicate without worrying that anyone else can keep up."

Loki nodded and slipped it in, motioning her other earpiece and mobile into a magic space. Both prepared, Romanoff held out her hand, sleeve pulled up to bare her wrist, and Loki took it and teleported them into the space next to Stark's wrecked suit.

Romanoff crouched as soon as they appeared while Loki took a slow turn around the room, magic sparking along her fingers in hopes of spotting something to take the cold fury still threading through her veins out on. But the room was empty save the piles of rubbish.

 _"Clear,"_ Romanoff breathed before getting up and dashing towards one of the four doors Loki counted. _"I'll start placing the trackers; see if you can't find Tony."_

"Of course," Loki agreed and motioned for one of her sceptres to come to hand. Secure with the familiar Æsir magic, she made two copies of herself and split off to try each of the other three doors.

 _"Are you aware of everything your copies see?"_ Romanoff wanted to know, sounding intrigued.

"To an extent," Loki agreed as she slipped through her chosen door. In the back of her mind lay the threads connecting her to her copies. The most basic form of the spell allowed only copies that acted as she directed, and required her to see them to keep up with their actions. Some centuries ago, Loki had woven a spell to craft a copy that could move independent of her, based around a specific set of directions she set into the spell, and relate back important information; in this case, her copies were told to remain out of sight, make note of movement inside the compound, and search out Stark.

Five minutes of seeing no one, Romanoff finally announced, _"Trackers set. Is it just me, or it is this place eerily empty?"_

"I have not seen a person," Loki replied, pausing in the middle of the hallway and motioning to try another scrying spell on Stark. It, like the others, fizzled into nothing, but she was left with the sense that she was close to him, close enough to _feel_ the arc reactor's refusal of her spell. "I believe Tony is here, however."

_"Can you get a direction?"_

Loki frowned and considered her spell knowledge, then tried another scrying spell, a simpler one that was intended to sort of point in the direction of the object, rather than actually show it. It didn't _quite_ fizzle away, as the others had, but left her with a vague direction. "East northeast," she reported, turning in that direction.

_"From your position?"_

"Yes."

_"You took the door right across from me?"_

"West northwest, then," Loki corrected.

_"Is one of your clones closer?"_

"I am...uncertain. One moment." Loki took a moment to switch with the copy that had gone north from their entrance point, then recast the direction spell. "Yes," she said when the spell tugged her insistently in the correct direction. "I've traded positions."

_"Good. Get in, get him out. I'll meet you back at our drop-in."_

"Understood," Loki replied and ended the spell for her copies, thinking to save the extra magic for getting Stark out and to safety.

It didn't take Loki much longer to hunt down the room Stark was in. She stepped through the open doorway with sharp eyes, looking for any sign of someone she could tear apart, only to hear a crunch as she stepped on something. She glanced down and found the covering for the arc reactor shattered under her boot, pieces of it leading her eyes to where a man with a metal mask for a face stepped forward, laughing. As Loki watched, the laughing man motioned and with a sparkle of silver magic, a curtain drew back to show Stark laying, too still, against a metal table, a gaping hole in the centre of his chest where the arc reactor had once been.

"Did I not say I would see you destroyed?" the masked man said before laughing again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't help it. It was _such_ an awesome place to leave it. (I thrive on your _pain_ , dear readers. XD)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A day early. Because I love you people. ♥♥  
> And this would have been up way earlier, but today was kind of nutters. And by nutters, I mean busy. *flail*

_It didn't take Loki much longer to hunt down the room Stark was in. She stepped through the open doorway with sharp eyes, looking for any sign of someone she could tear apart, only to hear a crunch as she stepped on something. She glanced down and found the covering for the arc reactor shattered under her boot, pieces of it leading her eyes to where a man with a metal mask for a face stepped forward, laughing. As Loki watched, the laughing man motioned and with a sparkle of silver magic, a curtain drew back to show Stark laying, too still, against a metal table, a gaping hole in the centre of his chest where the arc reactor had once been._

_"Did I not say I would see you destroyed?" the masked man said before laughing again._

-7-

The ice of Loki's birthright frosted over her fingers and clothing, climbed across the floor and _through_ the pieces of arc reactor, as though they weren't there. And Loki saw that, blinked at it, then looked up at the laughing Doom and smiled. "Clever," she purred and the human stopped laughing behind his mask. "But not so clever as to trick me, little mortal."

Doom let out a sharp laugh behind his mask. "Trick you?" he replied.

Loki twitched her fingers and her magic slipped under the illusions Doom had set around the room, assisted by the still-creeping ice of her anger, and shredded them. The shattered remains of the arc reactor disappeared, as did Stark's prone form, Doom's image, and the curtains hiding most of the room.

Loki found herself in a large room with a surprisingly high ceiling, given the height of the rest of the complex, which had humming machines lining the long walls. Stark was held against the far wall, shirt missing, gagged, and covered in bruises and cuts, but alive and with arc reactor intact. He was watching Loki with a mix of irritation and relief in his eyes and she spared only a brief wonder for whether this trap had been the reason her scrying spells had put forth such pathetic results, him trying to keep her and their team away and safe. Doom stood near to him, quite some distance from where his false image had been, next to a large gun, which the man fired with an angry shout.

"Beware of illusions," Loki warned Romanoff as she ducked the shot, three copies of herself peeling away and confusing the villain before he could again aim at her.

 _"Yeah, I'm seeing that. There are Doombots everywhere,"_ Romanoff returned, voice tense. _"Did you find Tony?"_

"And Jafar," Loki returned and Romanoff let out a choked laugh at the name Stark usually used. "Will you manage on your own?"

 _"Not my first rodeo,"_ Romanoff said. _"Deal with Doom and get Tony out of there; you can come help me after, assuming the others haven't already arrived."_

"Very well," Loki agreed, ducking a wild shot and sliding comfortably along the ice still creeping over the floor as she and her copies moved closer and closer to Doom and Stark.

Doom was panicking at the line of Lokis, all of which ducked his shots and moved in the same manner along the ice. He couldn't tell them apart, and he couldn't hit them, so he instead called, "I know who you _really_ are! You're the man who opened that portal above Manhattan!"

"Am I?" one of Loki's copies asked, then laughed as Doom shot her and the blast went right through her stomach.

"You missed," another copy commented.

"I seem to be rather too female to have opened that portal," yet another pointed out.

"Yes... Wasn't the person who opened it male?" Loki agreed.

"Handsome, though," the first copy said and they traded smiles while Doom's expressionless mask looked between them and Stark's eyes danced with amusement over the gag silencing him.

"You are him!" Doom snarled, shooting at another copy, which ducked the blast with ease. "I know you!"

"Do you?" Loki asked.

"It seems this is the first time we've met," a copy mentioned.

"Unless we're counting that brief conversation with one of the bots."

"Ooh, almost forgot about that one."

"Wasn't very memorable, I know."

"Silence!" Doom roared, aiming his gun at Stark.

Loki and her copies all froze, eyes narrowing at the threat to her lover. "And we were having so much fun," she said evenly as the copies faded away. "You really _must_ learn to better play this game, Victor."

"Why would you side with this pathetic team?" Doom spat. "You, who had them on their knees!"

"The Avengers are at their best on their knees," Loki returned drily, form melting from female to male. "Not that you would know that, seeing as how you are little more than a gnat they wave a hand at once a week."

Doom swung his gun and fired at Loki, only for the shot to go through his head.

"My brother always falls for that, too," Loki remarked from behind Doom as he touched ice to the gun. "And your file calls you smart."

Doom dropped the useless gun and turned to attack Loki with magic, but the god caught his wrist in one hand, smiling. "I will _kill_ you."

"No, you really won't," Loki replied, not even struggling to hold the wrist in his grasp. " _I_ , on the other hand–"

Stark made a muffled shout against his gag and Loki turned to look at him, one eyebrow raised. Stark narrowed his eyes in response, glaring until Loki flicked his fingers and the gag vanished. "SHIELD policy disallows killing of villains."

"Yes. You wouldn't want to start an international incident over a dead man, would you?" Doom added, voice full of sugar.

"As you have reminded me, I am not of your planet," Loki replied in a tone equally as sweet.

"Loki," Stark cut in before Loki and Doom could trade more sweet threats, "we _cannot kill him_. Diplomatic debates aside, we don't kill people. It's what makes us who we are."

 _It's what makes us less the monsters,_ Stark didn't say.

Loki scowled and let go of Doom's wrist as he cast a sleep spell. The masked man had time to say, "An excellent choi–" before he crumpled to the ground.

"I didn't kill him," Loki muttered to Stark's unimpressed stare as he stepped over their enemy towards his lover.

Stark rolled his eyes. "Thanks for that."

Loki flicked a spell at Stark's cuffs and, when that didn't work, simply pried them open. Stark sort of fell off the wall with a gasp of pain and Loki caught him as gently as he could while he sent his magic to see how bad the damage was. He discovered the cuts and bruises that he could see, as well as a broken rib and leg. "I make no promises if you get kidnapped again," Loki muttered as he wove his magic to help heal the human's broken bones.

"I'll work harder at avoiding it next time," Stark breathed, shifting to lessen his weight on the broken leg and pressing his nose against Loki's throat. "Thanks," he whispered, a well of emotion that Loki couldn't understand half of in that one word.

Loki tightened his arms around the human, warming at the feel of the human under his hands, his breath against Loki's neck. "You thought I would leave you?" Loki wondered.

Stark shook his head. "Nah. Team; I knew someone would show up eventually."

 _"Last time he got kidnapped, he had to free himself,"_ Romanoff said through the comms and Loki recalled reading about that in his lover's file, how it had taken three months for Stark to get free. _"The others just got here; take Tony and Doom to the helicarrier while we trash this place."_

Loki nodded. "Let's have you seen to on the helicarrier," he told Stark.

"I am so good, really," Stark insisted. "Going home, getting some sleep–"

"Tony," Loki interrupted and the human fell silent, though he wouldn't meet Loki's eyes when the god pulled away to grab for Doom.

Once he had both humans – and finding skin on their enemy had been interesting, with how much clothing Doom wore – Loki teleported all of them to the cells on the helicarrier. A group of guards down the hall came forward to take control of Doom, apparently having been waiting for their arrival, and Loki was left with the reluctant Stark.

Loki sighed and picked the human up bridal-style, making note of the quiet grunt of pain Stark failed to suppress. "Will you tell me why you are so against the medical bay?" he requested to fill the unnatural silence.

Stark shifted in Loki's arms, as though looking for a way free, and winced as he moved something that hurt. "Doctors are stupid," he muttered, resigned to Loki's hold.

"And I'm sure Dr Banner is aware of this," Loki replied drily.

"Bruce is a special case," Stark insisted. "He knows when to _stop_."

"Stop what?"

"Stop poking. Stop telling me what to do. Stop thinking he knows best." Stark paused a moment to take a breath, then added with a flash of a smirk. "And he doesn't _smell_."

Loki raised an eyebrow, seeing the deep truth in that last comment that Stark had tried to play off as a joke. Loki could understand Stark's dislike of how those who dealt in medicine had their own rules and regulations, was familiar with the urge to just do whatever he wanted when given such a list, damn the consequences, but the last was beyond his experience, so it was the part Loki questioned. "Smell how?"

Stark blinked. "Smell ho– What? _That's_ what you took away from that? Smells like a hospital. Like... Like sanitation and medicine and–"

"I can block your ability to smell," Loki offered.

Stark snorted and turned his face against Loki's shoulder. "Oh my God. How are you real? Did you _honestly_ just offer to _plug my nose_ so I won't have to smell antiseptic? Really?"

"I did, and I will," Loki agreed, unbothered. If a simple spell would get Stark to sit, without complaint, while the medical staff checked him over, Loki would do it. Even if he was _still_ confused by the human's issue with the smell.

Stark shook his head, face still pressed to Loki's shoulder. "Yeah. Whatever."

Loki cast the spell just as they were entering the ward and there was a quick tensing to Stark's shoulders before they eased and he glanced up, a glint of surprise in his eyes.

"Oh, dear," a nurse said as she hurried over. "Let's get you seen to, Mr Stark."

"One of his ribs and his left leg have seen some trauma," Loki told her as he set Stark into a bed. "They will heal on their own, but should likely be wrapped."

The nurse pursed her lips at him. "I'll let the doctor be the judge of that," she informed him and Stark snorted while Loki buried a flash of irritation. "Do _you_ need checked over?" she added, looking at a rip in Loki's jacket.

Loki raised an eyebrow at the rip, wondering when it had happened, and a sparkle of green magic sewed the fabric back into place. "I am unharmed."

"Even if he was, I've seen him heal a burn in, like, thirty seconds," Stark helpfully commented. "He's like Thor, but prettier." He winked at Loki.

A doctor stepped over, then, looking harried. "Lie down, Mr Stark. And please, this time, _don't_ flirt with my staff so they forget to do their jobs."

"I would _never_ ," Stark insisted.

"Liar," Loki tossed over his shoulder as he turned towards the exit.

"Hey! Puff, where are you going?" Stark called.

"I would find Coulson and let him know our whereabouts," Loki replied.

"Nuh-uh. You are _not_ leaving me in here alone. I might escape or, or flirt with some pretty nurse and–"

"Do I need to sedate you?" the doctor asked tiredly as he ran through a quick check-up in spite of Stark's flailing.

Stark went very still and shook his head, one hand twitching towards the arc reactor before he forced it back to his side. "Nope. Good."

Loki sighed and returned to the clear side of Stark's bed, waving a chair over to sit in. "It may well be easier for Coulson to find me if I remain in one place," he decided.

"Yeah. That," Stark agreed, relaxing back against his pillows.

The doctor had just finished running his x-rays and was waiting for them to finish developing when the rest of the team trooped in, looking a little worse for wear, but in significantly better shape than Stark had been.

"Tony! How are you doing?" Rogers asked, stopping at the end of Stark's bed and offering a smile for the nurse who was bandaging some of the worst of the cuts when she smiled at him.

"I am trapped in the medical ward on a flying bucket of bolts and loose screws," Stark retorted. "If I kill everyone in sight, do you think I'd get away with a plea of insanity?"

"No," Barton replied while Rogers grimaced. "Knew someone who tried that once. He didn't make it to the gate before they took him. Strapped him in medical for two months as punishment while the survivors took their revenge with need–"

"Shut up," Romanoff ordered and Barton did so, grin wide under a long cut across his right cheek and nose. The human woman nodded to Loki, then Stark before walking up to a nurse who was wearing a look of trepidation at the sight of the Avengers.

Thor came to stand at Loki's side and squeezed his shoulder as the Avengers were herded to beds, in spite of Roger's protests of, "I'm fine!"

"Tony, it is good to see you again," Thor rumbled to the human in the bed at Loki's side. "We were all much worried when you vanished, more so when we were unable to trace you through SHIELD's more common means. Had Loki not arrived when he did, we would still be searching."

"Yes. It's a wonder you ever get _anything_ done without me," Loki commented, smiling at where he could see Fury and Coulson just in hearing range. "I should be ashamed to have been defeated by you."

"Brother," Thor warned while Stark snickered.

Coulson's lips twitched with a hint at a smile while Fury's eye narrowed. "Cute," he said and Thor startled, having not realised the director was in the room. "Now why don't you tell me why you haven't delivered a fucking report on your actions down there when you've been on my base for twenty minutes."

"Fourteen," Stark corrected, pointing at a clock directly across from his bed. "Give or take a minute for travel from the holding cells."

"Oh, well done, genius. You can tell time," Fury snarked. "Loki! Why the fuck has your ass been warming a chair down here instead of upstairs?"

"I thought it simplest if I remained down here, where you knew I would be, rather than attempting to hunt you down," Loki replied with an easy smile. "After all, it is _quite_ the large ship, and you are far more familiar with it than I."

"You found Stark in a building twice the size of this ship," Coulson commented drily, "and that was with some sort of interference getting in your way."

Loki shrugged. "I used a lot of magic; I was tired."

Stark coughed and turned away to hide his amusement while Barton shouted, "Liar!" from across the ward.

"Mr Stark made threats to escape if Mr Odinson didn't remain in the ward," the doctor said as he returned, an odd note in his voice. "And, if you'll excuse me, Director: Mr Odinson, would you happen to know why Mr Stark seems to have a broken rib that's almost three weeks old and a broken tibia that's almost four months old?"

Loki widened his eyes to appear innocent. "Why would I know anything of such wounds?"

"Hey, cool," Stark said, sitting up. "Does that mean I don't need a cast? Because casts suck so much. I cannot _tell_ you how much casts suck. Have you ever tried to have sex–"

"Shut up, Stark," Fury ordered and the human flashed him a grin as he mimed zipping his lips closed. "Loki, don't fuck around. If you're going to go healing my people, heal them _all_ the way."

Loki shrugged. "I can't."

"Broken bones cannot be healed fully by magic," Thor offered before anyone could demand to know what Loki meant by that. "Even Æsir must suffer their bones to heal slowly the last week, lest the body become too dependent on the magic."

"It's less the body becoming dependent on the magic, more the body running the danger of overcompensating," Loki corrected drily. "The body knows there is damage and it will look to heal it. If a bone goes suddenly from broken to healed – or as healed as a bone can ever be – the body will still attempt to heal it, going through the steps it would normally take and causing undue damage to something that is newly healed."

Fury, Coulson, and Stark all looked to the doctor, who nodded. "That makes a lot of sense," he agreed. "And yes, Mr Stark, you're still going to need a cast and to have that rib wrapped for the next week. For my peace of mind, if nothing else. And I'm taking you off active duty."

"I hate casts," Stark muttered, sinking down against his pillows and crossing his arms over his chest. "They _itch_."

"You're wearing the cast," Coulson ordered.

"Itching can be solved," Loki agreed.

"Good. He's your problem," Coulson informed Loki before turning to look over the rest of the Avengers, catching the back of Barton's vest as the man attempted to sneak out of the ward.

"I'm not a 'problem', Magic Fingers!" Stark called.

"Trust me, Stark, you're a problem," Fury informed him and Stark smirked. "Get his cast fitted," he ordered the nurse, who nodded and left to collect the materials she would need. "Loki, let's talk."

"I will not return to find you having run off," Loki informed his lover as he stood to join the director.

"Nah. I'll leave that to Robin Hood for now," Stark agreed.

"I will watch him," Thor promised and Loki nodded his thanks before following Fury to a private room in the ward which was empty.

Loki summarised the events without embellishing them and Fury remained thoughtfully quiet for the whole of it. Once Loki was done, he said, "So Doom knew who you were, and how to get to you. He grabbed Stark to draw you out."

"Evidently," Loki agreed drily. "To his shame, he did not know me so well as to plan for me and thus failed in his aim. I would know _how_ he knew me."

"So would I," Fury replied as he pushed away from the wall he'd been leaning against as Loki spoke. "Maybe Stark's adventure will shed some light on the matter before we talk to Doom. I'd _also_ like to know why he went after _Stark_ when Barton or Romanoff are usually easier targets, and Foster was alone in the tower."

"And Thor would be the one more likely to raise my ire, given my relation. Though," Loki added with a nasty smile, "of all the Avengers, Thor would be the hardest to hold against his will, I think."

"Banner would give him a run for his money," Fury returned and Loki shrugged.

Stark's story of his time in captivity shed little light on the questions Fury and Loki had: he'd been unconscious for most of the time, only being awake for the last half hour or so. He knew Doom had tried multiple times to remove the arc reactor – "I don't think that part was supposed to be an illusion," he added in a tone that was too even while the other Avengers, Fury, and Coulson stood around his bed with varying degrees of fury written across their faces – and had broken Stark's rib at one point when he failed yet again, which had been when Stark had woken to his surroundings.

"He was definitely less interested in me, though," Stark added, meeting Loki's eyes. "He wasn't trying to torture me – wasn't aiming to make _me_ suffer – he was using me to get to you. Whatever you said to him all those weeks ago _really_ ticked him off."

"You spoke to Doom?" Rogers asked.

"When the fuck did you get in contact with this psycho?" Fury demanded, turning on Loki with violence in his eyes.

Loki raised an eyebrow at the director, unmoved by his anger. "When I observed the Doombot some weeks back, Doom initiated contact with me. He offered me a position at his side, I informed him I would rather he kneel at my feet. He was none too pleased."

Barton burst out laughing. "Holy fuck! That– You–"

"You have a thing about making people kneel," Romanoff commented drily and Barton clutched at his stomach when he started laughing harder. Stark and Banner both traded grins while Rogers and Thor shook their heads with a faint smile and Coulson's eyes glimmered with amusement.

Fury looked upwards, silently asking for patience, then said, "Great. Fucking wonderful. _This_ is why the Council keeps telling me you fuckers should just be locked up somewhere. Do _not_ go pissing off villains," he added, pointing at Loki.

Loki shrugged. "If he is focussed on me, he is causing less damage to civilians, yes?"

"And kidnapping other Avengers."

"That's worked out _real_ well for him so far," Romanoff said and Loki flashed her a smirk, which she returned. "Really, Director, at least if the villains try kidnapping one of us, they're not going after civilians; _we_ can get ourselves out."

Fury scowled around the circle before letting out an angry sigh and turning away from them. "Loki, Romanoff, Coulson, you're with me; Cap, see to it that everyone else makes it back to the tower in one piece."

"What?" Stark demanded as Loki, Romanoff, and Coulson turned to follow the director. "What the fuck? Where are you four going?"

"Talking to Doom," Coulson clarified.

"I'm coming with you!" Stark snapped, shoving out of his bed and grabbing for his crutches.

"Brother," Loki called over his shoulder, shooting Thor a look that spoke volumes to his life-long companion.

"You're wounded, Tony," Rogers soothed as Thor took Stark's crutches and handed them over to Banner before scooping Stark up in his arms. "Thor, he's coming back to the tower with the rest of us."

"He is," Thor agreed. "And I will see him to the quinjet."

The doors to the ward cut off any further debate amongst the rest of the team, leaving Loki, Romanoff, Coulson, and Fury in grim silence as they made their way to the cells. At Fury's nod, Doom was moved from his cell to an interrogation room at the end of the hall, already changed into a simpler garb and a collar that Loki could feel suppressing the ability to do magic, similarly to the gag and chains that Loki had worn a year ago, during his transport to Asgard.

They were not gentle with Doom, not after he'd kidnapped and attempted to kill Stark. Doom wasn't inclined to be forthcoming with the information they wanted, but his four interrogators had endless imaginations when it came to loosening tongues and no qualms about using them to the greatest extent. That Loki could heal most damage so they could begin again without the danger of losing Doom to an early death only made them more creative, and it wasn't long at all before Doom was willing to speak through breathless sobs.

Doom had figured out that Loki Odinson and Loki Friggadottir were the same person after seeing him/her through the eyes of the Doombots, which recorded magic as well as images and vocals. He'd seen the similarities in Loki's magic, then placed the two faces next to each other, spotting the similarities with little trouble. It hadn't been until recently, however, that he'd put Loki together with the person who'd opened the portal over Stark Tower a year ago. Being so snubbed by a fellow villain had been the last straw and Doom had started plans to see Loki on _his_ knees before Doom.

Doom's original plan had involved jumping Loki when he was unprepared – such as when he was travelling between realms, an event Doom had been made aware of during the brief period of time that the Bifröst site had been on the roof of Avengers Tower – but Loki rarely left the tower without at least two other Avengers, unless he was teleporting, and Doom couldn't usually trace Loki's teleportation until long after he'd arrived. Doom had thought to try while they were handling the damage caused by the Atlanteans and Jörmungand, but he'd heard, instead, that Loki and Stark were in a relationship and changed his plans to kidnap Stark, as the human was an easier target.

To capture Stark, Doom brought in various other villains to cause a distraction and nab Iron Man while SHIELD and the Avengers were busy. It gave him enough time to cart Stark back to Latveria, strip him of his suit and tech, and ensure that the Avengers and SHIELD would be unable to track their missing teammate without the use of magic. Which would require Loki.

Doom _had_ intended to kill Stark as part of his trap – one less Avenger was no skin off his back, and Stark was easy to kill by stealing a piece of tech that Doom was interested in anyway – but Loki's spell had kept him away from the arc reactor, a bit of luck for which Loki would likely be paying for centuries, knowing how these things usually worked out for him, but one he was more than grateful for at the moment.

Doom's flaw – as Loki had pointed out to Fury – was in planning for a magician of his own calibre, rather than a god with almost two millennia of magic and trickery under his belt. Doom had intended for Loki to attack his illusion-self, then use Loki's moment of confusion to blow his head off. He hadn't expected for Loki to catch on so quickly, or for Loki to have such control over his magic as to make his copies act as perfect replicas. Really, once Doom's illusions had fallen, he'd been left about four steps behind the god and struggling to catch up while Loki kept increasing the distance between them.

"I wonder if one might _lose_ him," Loki commented once Doom had been dragged back to his cell, leaving the four interrogators behind in the interrogation room.

"It wouldn't be hard," Romanoff agreed, picking at blood under her nails with a knife. "Send him back to Latveria in a show of good faith, only for a freak storm to kick up and cause the plane to crash over the Atlantic."

"We're not losing him," Coulson informed the two drily.

"SHIELD policy," Fury agreed with regret. "I should be able to see that he's locked up in a secure cell for some years, though. Long enough for Latveria's rebellion to get off their hands and take the government back." Fury looked the other three over, single eye sharp. "Stark's toy would help keep the fucker under wraps."

"Avengers policy: Team decision," Coulson returned with a flicker of a smile. "We'll talk it over."

Fury snorted and stood. "I need to know before tomorrow morning."

"We'll call a vote as soon as we're back in the tower," Coulson agreed as he and the two Avengers stood. "Loki?"

Loki nodded and teleported the two humans back to the tower with him.

A vote was called, Jane and Pepper taking part because they were there – and as much a part of their odd little family as those who were officially members of the Avengers – and they ended up agreeing to create a simplified version of the AMF Mark II and wrangling a promise from Fury that no one would tamper with it and that it would be returned to the Avengers as soon as Doom was either freed to return to Latveria, or died in captivity.

Hamburgers were ordered for dinner – as demanded by Stark – and they all settled in to watch a couple kids' films while they ate, Loki sitting on the arm of Stark's chair with the human curled comfortably against his side.

When Coulson ordered them all to bed, Pepper and Banner both stopped in front of Stark and Loki. "Are you going to need any help tonight?" Pepper asked, shifting with the urge to help as Stark fought with his crutches.

"Nope. I'm Loki's problem," Stark returned with a grin.

Loki rolled his eyes and waved the crutches down to Stark's room before picking the vexing human up. "I had been led to believe you were _not_ a problem."

"It's between being a problem and Pep hovering. Which, Pep, _really_? And Bruce, you're almost as bad. Go away. Both of you. Go. Shoo."

"I still live on your floor, Tony," Pepper reminded him drily.

Stark widened his eyes in horror, then looked to Loki. "Switch with her."

Loki blinked. "...excuse me?"

Stark pressed a finger against Loki's chest. " _You_ –" he pointed towards Pepper, "–switch with Pep. She gets to take over the floor below Brucy and you can move all your books into her room. And then I can be your problem without having to skip floors to do it. Everyone wins."

"Holy fuck," Barton offered from where he was sneaking a beer from behind the bar. "Tony, that was the _shittiest_ attempt to ask someone to move in with you I've _ever_ heard. Can you call do-over?"

"I am on pain-killers up to my eyeballs and he's complaining about my dating techniques," Stark muttered, pressing his face into Loki's shoulder. "Jesus Christ, I need new friends."

"Calling us friends suggests you got to pick us," Banner commented with a smile and a shake of his head. "Loki, if you need me, have JARVIS call me up."

"I will do so," Loki agreed a bit absently, still trying to wrap his mind around the concept of _moving in_ with Stark; it wasn't foreign to him – long term relationships on Asgard followed a similar path, and Loki _had_ been married – but he'd hardly expected it. Not when they already lived in the same building, not at this stage. And yet...

"You're moving in, right?" Stark asked, peeking up at Loki. And he would later blame his hopeful tone on the drugs, the line of questioning on pain and trauma.

Loki would never make excuses for saying, without reservation, "Yes. Of course."

Pepper smiled at the two of them, fond with a hint of old pain. "We can switch stuff tomorrow," she told Loki. "If you don't care, I'll take your floor for tonight after grabbing a change of clothing from my room."

Loki nodded. "I have no complaints," he agreed, "although I do not wish to make you feel as though you are being kicked out–"

Pepper laughed and shook her head, leading the way to the lift. "God, no. No, that's always been Tony's floor; I spend more time away from the tower than in it, anyway."

"Still your home," Stark insisted.

Pepper nodded. "This is my home," she agreed and Stark grinned at her. "Maybe I _should_ have taken that floor when you offered it to me."

"Worked better this way," Stark replied.

"I guess it did."

Pepper grabbed a handful of clothing while Loki tucked Stark in, then followed the woman to his floor for a change of clothing himself – he had one Midgardian outfit in Stark's room, but it needed to be washed and he figured he might as well grab another. He grabbed one of his books and his picture of himself and Thor while he was down there, then returned to Stark's floor – _Tony and **my** floor, now,_ he realised with a jolt – and checked in on his sleeping lover before moving to spend a couple hours with Dummy while he fashioned pictures of the images he'd taken of his family on Asgard and Niflhel.

And Loki thought, as he climbed into bed with Dummy rolling along behind him, _If this is my life for the next few decades, I will be content._

And he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, last chapter is kinda short. But sweet. And Loki feels. *cuddles him*
> 
> If you haven't read _Christmas Tunes_ , feel free to; it takes place after this fic. (Well, okay. The first half of it takes place during _Whatever Lies Beyond This Morning_ , but the second half takes place some months after this fic.)  
> As far as I'm concerned, this series is complete. But, if I get another bunny that fits in this universe, I'll add it to this and let you know that it fits in here somewhere. Wherever. XD
> 
> ~Bats ^.^x
> 
>  **P.S.** – _COULSON LIIIIIIIIIIIVES!_  
>  *true facts*


End file.
